We are not in favor of dissolving RSU 5. We ask that you look closely at the information being provided by the Withdrawal Committee before making your own decision. We believe that the dissolution of RSU 5 will negatively impact Freeport High School.

Presently, 325 Freeport students attend the high school. The remainder of the student body (185 students) are from Pownal and Durham. The number of Freeport students has not varied significantly for many years. If Pownal and Durham families, in significant numbers, decide to send their children to school elsewhere, the high school will be forced to cut academic programs, sports teams and extra-curricular activities. In the future, as a Freeport-only high school, our academic and extra-curricular offerings will be based on how many students we will be able to recruit to attend in any given year. Do we want to put our energy into recruitment or education?

We are being led to believe that we should be wary of high schools of 500-plus students while outstanding comprehensive high schools nearby range in size (approximate numbers) from Brunswick at 845 students to Mount Ararat at 830 and Yarmouth at 485 students, Greely at 700 students and Falmouth at 725 students. In addition, there are also excellent private and charter schools nearby competing for our students. How many more Freeport students (or Pownal and Durham students who remain at the high school after the dissolution of RSU 5) will ultimately leave to attend these schools if our high school offerings are less than they are now?

Collaboration is not easy. However, with hard work the results can be impressive (MSAD 51 or MSAD 75 are examples from the list above). The time has come to work at collaboration rather than dissolution. Let’s put our energy into working together to make RSU5 the poster child of exemplary educational programming. We can be better together than alone.

Fred and Pat Palmer

Freeport