Dear Editor:

When I first learned about our failing high school building it struck me that it was time to consider a regional solution. Yes, the cost of a new school in Edgecomb would be the same as building a new one in Boothbay Harbor (perhaps slightly more: larger building, property cost). However, the cost would be spread out amongst the communities involved. Problem solved…or so I thought.

While a regional school appears to address some of the issues presented, there are several significant challenges making it a nonstarter. First, it's presumptuous to assume that Edgecomb would vote to help Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor address this issue. For starters, a regional school would require Edgecomb to take on a larger share of the cost of educating their students, thus requiring an increase in their taxes. In addition, locating the school in Edgecomb would mean that they would lose “school choice.” I find it highly unlikely that Edgecomb voters would support the construction of a regional high school. Indeed, at a recent Edgecomb school board meeting one participant commented “That will never happen.” Others expressed surprise and were not pleased to learn they would have to pay more than they do now and lose school choice if the school was regionalized. One observed, “Having school choice is why some families move here.”

Also, one cannot ignore the fact that Wiscasset would also need to be on board. They would have to close their high school and take on their share of the cost of building a new one for the privilege of joining in. These are all considerations that the Building Exploratory Committee explored when looking into the challenges presented by our current facility.

Regardless of the location of a new high school, keep in mind that a significant percentage of the proposed expenditure for construction costs is for necessary improvements to the K-8 school and will not go away even if we were to build a regional high school.

While we could continue to explore the regional option, coming to a satisfactory resolution is likely to take many years, compromising the education of our current and future students. In my view, this “arranged marriage,” is not an option. We can put a band aid on it and continue to limp along. Over time, this will likely prove costlier than building anew. Or we can bite the bullet now and provide our students and the community with a school of which we can all be proud.

Erik Bertelsen

Boothbay