KidsRSU, Serving the communities of Dresden, Farmingdale, Hallowell, Monmouth & Richmond, Maine

Welcome to the Kennebec Intra-District Schools (KIDS) regional school unit (RSU2) web site. The new school unit will be made up of schools in the towns of Dresden, Farmingdale, Hallowell, Monmouth and Richmond.

Questions? Comments? Something Missing? Contact John Armentrout

The 2009-2010 NCLB Report Cards are now posted and available for the public to review. The reports contain information on two years worth of student achievement data from the Maine Educational Assessment, the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress), as well as information on Highly Qualified Teacher status. The following summary highlights some interesting information. If you would like to see a copy of the actual NCLB Report Card, please click on this link.

http://www.maine.gov/education/nclb/reportcard/reportcard09.html

Click these links for Adobe PDF files of the reports for our schools:
Dresden NCLB Report Card
Hall-Dale NCLB Report Card
Monmouth NCLB Report Card
Richmond NCLB Report Card

The latest informational flyer will be distributed shortly.
You can view the PDF file of it here:

Informational Flyer for October 2008

N E W SÂ R E L E A S E

Maine Department of Education, Susan A. Gendron, Commissioner

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE â€“ June 18, 2008

Commissioner, Planning Committee Celebrate First Regional School Unit

Voters in Hallowell, Farmingdale, Richmond, Monmouth and Dresden approved plan June 10

HALLOWELL â€“ Education Commissioner Susan A. Gendron congratulated the people who helped create the first regional school unit to be approved by voters under the stateâ€™s new reorganization law at a press conference/celebration Wednesday.Â She presented a Commissionerâ€™s Award to members of the reorganization planning committee that made it happen.

The new Kennebec Intra-District Schools Regional School Unit (KIDS RSU) was approved overwhelmingly in all five towns of the future school system at the June 10 election.Â The new district will include MSAD 16 (Hallowell and Farmingdale), Richmond, Monmouth, and Dresden, with over 2,300 students.

â€œAt the heart of your conversations was the enhancement of learning,â€ Gendron said. â€œYour work really highlights what this legislation was about.â€Â Under the reorganization law, school systems were required to consolidate into larger units to increase educational opportunities for students and make better use of constricted financial resources. Gendron says she believes the state will come in at under 80 units, the goal of the law. There are currently 290 school administrative units statewide, many with few or no students.

Gendron praised the planning committee, municipal officials, the four superintendents, other community participants, and the citizens of the towns for their â€œlandmark and overwhelming approvalâ€ at the polls on June 10.

Other speakers echoed and spoke in more detail about the student-focused approach that led to success. They noted that they started working on reorganization in January 2007, before the law even passed five months later.
Mike Rogers, chair of the Monmouth school board and vice chair of the planning committee, said that while debate was intense, all decisions came out of subcommittees with unanimous votes. â€œMany challenges lie ahead for us, with the transition, and shepherding the regional planning committee (RPC) into the RSU stage,â€ Rogers said. The RPC has already been re-named the Transition Team, and is beginning that transition work for a July 1, 2009 start. He and others stressed that while financial savings wonâ€™t come right away, the pace of budget increases will slow as a result of the consolidation.

And the conversation quickly moved again to education.

â€œWe saw consolidation not as a mandate, but as an opportunity,â€ said Gary Getchell, a member of the planning committee and chair of the Dresden school committee. He said the strong effort at informing the public at every opportunity (even at school events) was an important part of the public support. Last Tuesday 79 percent of voters supported the reorganization plan.

Joining the participants were Rep. Sharon Treat, whose district includes Farmingdale and Hallowell, who said the group â€œdeserves a lot of credit for keeping their eye on the ball,â€ and Sen. Paula Benoit of Phippsburg, whose district includes Richmond; she said â€œexcellence for education has always been a top priority, and thatâ€™s not just words.â€

While five reorganization plans have been approved to date by the commissioner, this was the first to be approved by voters under the reorganization law passed last year. One, RSU #1 in Bath, West Bath, Arrowsic, Phippsburg and Woolwich, was approved by voters there under special legislation that came before the reorganization law. Maine School Administrative Districts 53 (Pittsfield) and 59 (Madison) presented a plan to their voters last week, but it was rejected by a narrow margin in MSAD 59, while approved by voters in MSAD 53. Those units may try again to pass the reorganization plan. Still to vote on their approved plans are the communities of Litchfield, Sabattus and Wales, and voters in Falmouth-MSAD 51.

In addition to the reorganization plans, there are 16 alternative plans that have been approved by the commissioner. Those are for communities who successfully lobbied to remain as they are, either because they are large enough or otherwise were found to meet the criteria in the law. More than 50,000 publicly-funded students are now in communities with approved reorganization or alternative plans, just over 25 percent of the total.

Submitted by: John Armentrout

Read less...

The KIDS RSU (Kennebec Intra-District Schools Regional School Unit), Hall-Dale, Monmouth, Richmond and Dresden School Districts and school boards were honored today by the Maine Department of Education for being the first successful consolidated district under the school consolidation law.

DOE Commissioner Susan Gendron was present to award the KIDS Regional Planning Committee and each town with a plaque thanking us for our very successful efforts to improve education while reducing education costs. Commissioner Gendron even brought a cake! Congratulations to the RPC members, school board members and the voters.

The link below contains a draft of the KIDS RSU organizational chart. This chart does not represent individual people, but rather identified functions.

Click the image to open a full size PDF file.

The results from the June 10th referendum to regionalize four SAU’s into one KIDS RSU for
Dresden, Richmond, Monmouth and SAD 16 are being reported as follows

Dresden Yes (322 yes votes, 82 no)
Richmond Yes (490 yes votes, 120 no)
Monmouth Yes (560 yes votes, 220 no)
Farmingdale Yes (329 yes votes, 66 no)
Hallowell Yes (510 yes votes, 102 no)

Approved with about a 4:1 margin in favor or a 78.9% approval rate!

Congratulations all.

KidsRSU

Serving Dresden, Farmingdale, Hallowell, Monmouth & Richmond, Maine

Welcome!

NCLB Reports for our Schools for 2009-2010

KIDS RSU Informational Flyer

DOE News Release

KIDS RSU Honored by the Maine DOE

RSU Organizational Chart - DRAFT

The KIDS RSU has been approved by voters!

About Us

Links: