Thumbs up to all the candidates and voters who participated in the democratic process this week. Between primaries and school budgets, municipal budgets and land use issues, many items were before voters at the polls on Tuesday and several Town Meetings also took place.

Taking the time to vote is important for the process to work and to ensure everyone is represented in Augusta and at the local level. Taking part in budget referendums and Town Meetings also allows voters to have a say on their tax bill. In Regional School Unit 23, voters did not like what their proposed tax bill was going to look like, and so they rejected the funding plan. Now the school committee will have to revise its plan and send another to voters. Although this process is time consuming and costs money, the voters exercised their right to say no, and will hopefully have a better proposal before them this summer. Another part of the process, however, is letting local officials know what the concerns are.

We hope voters who disapproved of measures on the ballot will contact their school committee members, selectmen and municipal officials and show up for public hearings. Without feedback, officials may not know how to proceed, and could put additional proposals to voters that will not garner sufficient support.

Thumbs up to the students and staff at Thornton Academy TV and WSSR-TV in Sanford for offering local programming via the World Wide Web and on local cable channels. TATV started streaming its content online this month, which includes student-produced shows as well as sports games, plays and other school events, along with community events and city council and Regional School Unit 23 meetings. The school has a significant foreign population due to its boarding program, and this online offering allows these students’ parents to view their school events and programs from afar. In addition, as TATV staff pointed out, the student-produced shows can be viewed by others interested in their work and will help those pursuing careers in broadcasting and journalism. In Sanford, WSSR-TV is now on air, broadcasting on channels 25 and 26, with Channel 25 as the education channel. Student-produced programs will also be featured on this channel, and eventually, all town and school meetings will be shown on Channel 26.

Thumbs up to the Wells-Ogunquit CSD school committee for deciding on a high school renovation plan to put to voters. Although everyone will not be pleased with the option, making a choice was a necessary move to keep the process on schedule. Now that a plan has been selected, a building committee can get to work this summer. The school committee had considered holding a straw poll later this year to gauge public sentiment, but at a workshop two weeks ago, those present overwhelmingly told the board to make a decision. The building committee has a lot of work to do, and we hope they are able to get a solid plan and estimate together to bring to voters next June.

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Thumbnails is a Monday feature of the Journal Tribune’s opinion pages. If you want to respond, feel free to write to the Readers’ Forum via email at jtcommunity@journaltribune.com or by dropping your letter off at our Biddeford or Sanford offices.