It often feels that the leadership of the school district is communicating with the public in code, particularly in the long-standing phrase, "making spaces," which can stand for anything from an artist studio to a factory production facility. We have been hearing this term for years, without variation, and so its use seems intentionally evasive.

 

I started filling in my own picture of what that term stands for and came up with making spaces for robotics, which is consistent with the kind of equipment being purchased and the level of funding being donated.

 

Robotics companies are organized to insert their industrial interests in our public school system under the rubric of industrial job training for an industry whose main selling point is eliminating the expense of hiring industrial human  labor. That's a savings for the capitalist but the does not address the fate of the working classes. Such consideration needs to be addressed by our educational system. What jobs will be left for humans? AI can now write the code for its own evolution, and the robotics industry is not far behind, so robotics is not a promising carèer path for humans.

 

Meanwhile, the Maine legislature enacted laws permitting town officials and the state legislature to negotiate deals, keeping the local inhabitants out of a process that can result in ongoing expenses that the inhabitants are required to fund in perpetuity.

 

Maine is a Home rule state so we should be able to enact rules locally that require public approval of what is now being conducted as secret negotiations. The public deserves to know more than just a sum of money that was "donated." The public should have an approval vote over the terms of agreement and know the identity of the party making the donation or purchase.

 

 

Sincerely,

Susan M. Andersen

Boothbay