After the Franklin city council voted to withdraw Franklin School District from SAU 18 last week, Superintendent Daniel Legallo called the Department of Education to figure out what to do next.
He then learned that the vote – 5-4 in favor of withdrawing – was too small a victory to be valid under state statute.
The withdrawal plan must be accepted by 60 percent of the school district’s governing body, or more than five of the nine Franklin city council members. Legallo sent around an email to school and city officials saying as much.
This comes after more than a year of considering the idea. Franklin formed a withdrawal study committee in August 2015, and the state’s board of education approved the committee’s plan for withdrawal this past August.
The plan would have essentially removed Hill School District from the 62-year-old school administrative unit, making Franklin a one-district SAU.
In exchange for keeping the SAU 18 name, office and other assets, Franklin would have given Hill School District $1,750, one desktop computer, one laptop and four filing cabinets.
Proponents of withdrawal said a one-school-SAU would allow administrators to focus on Franklin students, garner $21,802 in net savings and give flexibility for the district to potentially consolidate financially.
Opponents said the withdrawal didn’t seem to provide tangible educational benefits for students and appeared to be a retaliatory action against Hill for voting to enter a 10-year contract with Newfound School District in 2015.
Jennie D. Blake Elementary School (and its 60-some students) is the only Hill school remaining in the district.
When it came to a vote at Franklin City Hall last week, four councilors voted for the withdrawal, and four voted against. Mayor Ken Merrifield broke the tie, citing the city’s ongoing school budget challenges as a reason to go through with the proposal.
That was the only way that the school and city may consolidate finances and save some extra funds, Merrifield said, given that Hill School District is not favorable toward consolidation.
Franklin school board members have made the point throughout this process, however, that they are not necessarily on board with consolidation, either.
Whether consolidation is even an option anymore is up in the air. But Legallo – the SAU 18 superintendent – knows that withdrawal is definitely off the table now.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s pretty much a done deal,” he said.
(Elodie Reed can be reached at 369-3306, ereed@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @elodie_reed.)