Pay attention to steering committee meetings

To the editor,

There is a process underway to potentially reconfigure the way elementary schools are structured and used in South Portland. The effort has been led by superintendent Tim Matheney with the creation of a Boundaries and Configurations Steering Committee in early 2023.

The steering committee meetings are open to the public and a schedule of those, as well as the community input meetings, can be found at /www.spsd.org/page/bc.

All residents of South Portland, whether they have children in public school or not, would be very interested in decisions being made about how to best structure and resource our largest driver of education and prosperity: our public schools.

I am writing today to urge residents to pay attention to this process that will have a great impact on all of us. As over 62 percent of our local taxes are used in the support of public schools, this process deserves our attention, support, and talents. Please attend a meeting or submit your comments directly to the committee using their website.

All of us need to pay attention to this important work. How these valuable assets – our school buildings, buses, teachers and students – are utilized and supported will impact our community for decades.

Melinda Hull

South Portland