The Durham Educational Exploration Committee would like to thank everyone who came to the public meeting on Aug. 13 at the Durham Community School. The feedback and input is sincerely appreciated. Please continue to send us your input by sending email to durham.eec@gmail.com .

Our mission is to provide the town as much information as possible before we vote on the petition for withdrawal from RSU 5 sometime in the near future. Since the meeting on Aug. 13, we have become aware of some new information that we wanted the town to know about as soon as possible.

If Durham votes yes on the petition for withdrawal, state law requires that a Withdrawal Committee be appointed by the selectmen. This new committee will be required to develop a withdrawal plan for the town to vote on that would require Durham’s withdrawal from RSU 5. Some have asked if the withdrawal plan could be a renegotiated agreement with RSU 5. State law does not allow that. The vote must be on a plan for withdrawal from the RSU.

We have also learned that any withdrawal plan is required by state law to include a 10-year contract with a high school that guarantees that school will accept any Durham student in grades 9-12 who wishes to go there. Meaning, if Durham withdraws from RSU 5, we could still technically have high school choice, but we would also still be required to enter into a 10-year contract with a high school.

These are important considerations and the committee felt this information should be made available to the citizens of Durham as soon as possible.

Kevin Nadeau

Chairman

Durham Educational ?Exploration Committee