RANGELEY – The four communities in the Rangeley Lakes school union that voted to consolidate on Nov. 3 will be moving ahead with the plan, having scheduled special elections for school board seats for Jan. 19, 2010.
Rangeley, Dallas Plantation, Magalloway Plantation and Sandy River Plantation all voted to consolidate, forming a regional school unit which meant taking a departure from the former school union. Instead of several separate school boards, the unit will have a single school board of 10 directors. Five of these will be from Rangeley, two from Dallas and Sandy River and one from Magalloway.
Those interested in running in the special elections should contact their town clerks for nomination papers. The new school board would meet for the first time in March 2010, assisting in the development of a district budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, and formally assuming control of the new district in the summer.
The two communities that did not vote to consolidate, Lincoln Plantation and Rangeley Plantation, will not send directors to the new board. Instead, they will tuition students to a nearby district, probably the Rangeley RSU.
The plan is scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2010. The district is below the minimum number of students allowed under the consolidation law, but School Union 37 was exempted from that requirement thanks to LD 467, passed earlier this year.
For further information regarding nomination papers contact the town clerks at: Dallas Plantation 864-5991 Magalloway Plantation 486-3215 Rangeley 864-3326 Sandy River Plantation 864-2234.
