Schenck Gets a Reprieve - For Now
EAST MILLINOCKET -- Tuitioning of East Millinocket high school students to Millinocket is off the table - for now - thanks to an agreement between the town and Brascan, the anticipatwed buyer of the bankrupt Great Northern Paper mill, that will provide operating expenses and give the school board time to study the issues of consolidation.
The issue of tuitioning Schenck High School students to Stearns in Millinocket will not be on the agenda to be decided by voters at an April 23 special town meeting, as planned.
The East Millinocket school board voted to remove the tuition proposal from the agenda after learning of an agreement between the town of East Millinocket and Brascan that would provide for payment of back taxes owed by GNP.
The agreement requires that town and school officials study consolidation of all school and municipal services with the neighboring towns of Medway and Millinocket, with implementation to produce savings by July 2004.
The agreement allowed the school board time to study the issues, rather than rushing into a decision without having all of the facts.
In response to complaints that the new owner of mill is dictating policy, and telling the Katahdin area towns how to run their operations, Don Hendsbee, the school board chairman, said that this was not true, but that the company wa asking officials to look for ways to trim taxes.
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