WISCASSET

As Wiscasset and Westport Island consider withdrawing from Regional School Unit 12, the eight-town district’s school board picked a former Wiscasset superintendent to serve as interim leader of the RSU.

At an June 14 meeting, the board unanimously approved hiring Alan Hawkins as RSU 12’s interim superintendent, following the resignation of Superintendent Greg Potter, which Potter announced earlier this year.

Potter will take the helm at RSU 19, which includes the towns of Newport, Corinna, Dixmont, Etna, Hartland, Palmyra, Plymouth and St. Albans.

Prior to coming to RSU 12, Hawkins had retired after five years as the top administrator for Cape Elizabeth schools. Prior to his stint in Cape Elizabeth, he served as superintendent of Wiscasset, Alna, and Westport Island schools from 2002 to 2005.

Hawkins accepted the new role two days after Wiscasset and Westport Island voters committed tens of thousands of dollars to studying the impacts of leaving the school unit.

On Tuesday night, the Wiscasset Board of Selectmen hashed out a list of four reasons why a majority of voters in the June 12 election supported continued consideration of withdrawal.

Those reasons, which will be sent to the state’s commissioner of education for review, are:

— Decisions made by the RSU board are contrary to the wishes of the citizens of Wiscasset.

— The RSU budget validation process is meaningless when the voters oppose the budget they are obliged to pay.

— The geographic boundary of the RSU makes it difficult for communities to be represented at all meetings.

— The cost allocation does not favor Wiscasset.

In Wiscasset, 57.5 percent of voters supported appropriating up to $50,000 to study withdrawal; in Westport Island, 68.4 percent of voters endorsed appropriating $20,000 to study withdrawal from the RSU.

Wiscasset Town Clerk Christine Wolfe said RSU 12 will have 30 days from the day the town sends the letter to the commissioner of education to convene a withdrawal study committee that includes one municipal officer, one member of the general public, one member of the group filing the petition and one representative from the RSU 12 board.

That committee will then begin studying the withdrawal process.

Hawkins said he hopes that process helps to make clear the costs and implications of withdrawal to voters in Wiscasset in Westport Island.

“I’m not clear on how well the communities understand the implications of withdrawal, and I think they’ll need to have very clear and concise details on what it might cost and what it might mean for students and their education,” Hawkins said. “Those are issues that I’m going to be looking at.”

Having led Wiscasset schools prior to consolidation, Hawkins said he’s not formed an opinion on whether the decision for Wiscasset and Westport Island to exit the RSU is the right one, stressing the importance of having “good solid information to work with.” However, he generally praised the consolidation.

“I think Wiscasset has an excellent school system and I think they have teachers who have worked hard over a long time,” Hawkins said. “I think that work is continuing and I think that’s probably improved considerably since they joined the RSU.”

Hawkins, who lives in South Portland, has already taken up the RSU 12 post. Potter’s last official day with the district is June 30.

dfishell@timesrecord.com