Interview of the Week
By Zack Anchors
Staff writer
After serving six years on the Scarborough School Board, four as chair of the finance committee and this past year as chair of the board, Robert Mitchell is ready for a break. “Six years is a long time,” Mitchell said this week, sitting at a picnic table outside the large white house he recently built. “I’ll go back to it some time – maybe to run for the board again or Town Council.” Mitchell is a true Scarborough native, with roots that go back in the town for centuries. At the end of Willowdale Road, which shoots off Route One near Scarborough Downs, members of the Mitchell family own several homes spread out over the grassy meadows surrounding the Willowdale Golf Course. “This used to all be farmland,” Mitchell said. During the time Mitchell served on the board, the school system has continued to expand, controversial renovations to the high school were completed, two superintendents were hired, accruals for teacher salaries were established and budgets were tweaked. As Mitchell and the two other longest serving members of the board leave this year, the new board that follows them will be filled with new faces. David Beneman, who served on the board for six years, will be stepping down, as well as Jackie Perry, who has served on the board off and on for nearly 30 years. “Jackie was on the board when I was in high school, if you can believe it,” said Mitchell. “She got on in the fall of ’77, and I graduated in 1978.” “Chris Brownsey will have been around the longest and he’s only been on the board two years,” Mitchell said. “They’re all pretty new people, with a little less experience.” There are three uncontested races to fill the empty seats left by the veteran board members, with three candidates running for three seats. Mitchell said it is unfortunate that every year there seems to be fewer people willing to take on the challenge of an elected office, noting that last year, three council seats also went uncontested. “I wish more people would get involved,” he said. “But I think people get discouraged by all the politics…I’d like to get a higher level of business experience on the board. Usually people only do try to get involved when they have a gripe or a special interest.” Mitchell, who has worked at Unum Provident as an actuary for 23 years, said the School Board has the difficult task of balancing a range of interests – the students, the taxpayers, the school administration and the teachers. “People don’t realize it, but by state charter, the School Board is supposed to be an advocate for the students on behalf of the state,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got 3,300 students now –we’re bigger than South Portland…how do you make sure that all sectors of the school system –vocational, special needs, college-bound – are all getting challenged and receiving the resources they need to succeed?” While looking out for the needs of students, the board also has the responsibility of using the town’s finances wisely, something Mitchell said he takes a middle of the road approach on. “There are some people who would spend a lot and some people want to spend a little, but I’m right down the middle,” he said. “(former superintendent] Bill Michaud did an excellent job budgeting. We budgeted at the ninetieth percentile and managed at the fiftieth percentile.” “The financial side of things is much better off,” said Mitchell. “We got the council to get buses out of the debt piece and into the operating budget to be renewed each year. The town has minimized debt – the biggest thing there is buildings, which it should be.” One of the major focuses of the School Board in recent years has been a series of construction projects, starting ten years go with the construction of a new middle school and continuing more recently with the renovations to the high school. This fall, voters will decide the fate of two proposed projects – a $38 million construction of a new Wentworth Intermediate School and $17 million in renovations to the middle school. “We’ve spent an enormous amount of time on the board on buildings and we need to get back to curriculum,” Mitchell said. But Mitchell said if voters don’t improve the $55 million in bonds for the two projects, buildings are likely to continue to be an issue the town has to deal with in future years and probably will have greater costs than the current estimates. “Do you do it now, or wait five years and do it at a higher cost?” he said. Mitchell said he thinks both projects are worthy of residents’ support and will serve the town’s educational and economic best interests. “The town should’ve built a larger middle school ten years ago, but they didn’t and we can’t change that,” he said. “We need to eliminate the portable classrooms and deal with the core structure of the building… it’s now or it’s two years from now.” “I went to school in Wentworth,” Mitchell said. “It makes no sense to spend $33 million on a 30-year-old building…for 50 percent more you could have a school that serves the town’s needs for 20 or 30 years.” Mitchell said the finished buildings, which would be significantly larger than the present ones, would pay off quickly as the town continues growing. “It’s much more economic to have big buildings,” he said. “Economy-wise, the bigger the building, the more effective it is.” Mitchell also said he hopes school buildings will be used more in the future for a range of community activities, such as services for seniors. “The schools are more than willing to facilitate as much use of the buildings as possible,” he said. One of the advantages of both proposals, said Mitchell, is that the projects are designed to minimize the impact of construction on students’ ongoing educational experience. “The earliest construction could start on either project would be the spring of 2008,” said Mitchell. “They wouldn’t finish until 2009 or 2010.” Regarding the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), another item on the Nov. 7 ballot, Mitchell said he thinks the measure has pros and cons. “The state tax rate is the real problem,” he said. “It’s not property taxes, it’s income taxes.” Overall, Mitchell said, “TABOR would have a minimal impact on Scarborough.” But he added that he thought that the issue has become very politicized, even locally. “Some people love to be in front of the camera and write letters to the paper, but I’m not interested in that,” he said. Mitchell said recent tensions between the School Board and Town Council are also largely due to “people who just love power and ego.” “I’ve seen some times when people work together on things perfectly well but then the camera gets turned on and they start getting worked up about things,” he said. “I think politics gets in the way of the town too much. We should be asking what the seniors really want and what the schools need.” Overall though, Mitchell had lots of praise for the administrators of Scarborough’s school system and local government. He said he was impressed with new superintendent David Doyle, appreciated the work Town Manager Ron Owens has done mapping out the debt structure related to the bond questions and felt the Town Council was taking important steps towards tax relief. “I think Scarborough’s Town Council is doing a great job at looking at taxes,” he said. Now that he is free from attending School Board meetings, Mitchell hopes to have more free time to spend with his family, including his daughter, who is currently in seventh grade.
Staff writer
After serving six years on the Scarborough School Board, four as chair of the finance committee and this past year as chair of the board, Robert Mitchell is ready for a break. “Six years is a long time,” Mitchell said this week, sitting at a picnic table outside the large white house he recently built. “I’ll go back to it some time – maybe to run for the board again or Town Council.” Mitchell is a true Scarborough native, with roots that go back in the town for centuries. At the end of Willowdale Road, which shoots off Route One near Scarborough Downs, members of the Mitchell family own several homes spread out over the grassy meadows surrounding the Willowdale Golf Course. “This used to all be farmland,” Mitchell said. During the time Mitchell served on the board, the school system has continued to expand, controversial renovations to the high school were completed, two superintendents were hired, accruals for teacher salaries were established and budgets were tweaked. As Mitchell and the two other longest serving members of the board leave this year, the new board that follows them will be filled with new faces. David Beneman, who served on the board for six years, will be stepping down, as well as Jackie Perry, who has served on the board off and on for nearly 30 years. “Jackie was on the board when I was in high school, if you can believe it,” said Mitchell. “She got on in the fall of ’77, and I graduated in 1978.” “Chris Brownsey will have been around the longest and he’s only been on the board two years,” Mitchell said. “They’re all pretty new people, with a little less experience.” There are three uncontested races to fill the empty seats left by the veteran board members, with three candidates running for three seats. Mitchell said it is unfortunate that every year there seems to be fewer people willing to take on the challenge of an elected office, noting that last year, three council seats also went uncontested. “I wish more people would get involved,” he said. “But I think people get discouraged by all the politics…I’d like to get a higher level of business experience on the board. Usually people only do try to get involved when they have a gripe or a special interest.” Mitchell, who has worked at Unum Provident as an actuary for 23 years, said the School Board has the difficult task of balancing a range of interests – the students, the taxpayers, the school administration and the teachers. “People don’t realize it, but by state charter, the School Board is supposed to be an advocate for the students on behalf of the state,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got 3,300 students now –we’re bigger than South Portland…how do you make sure that all sectors of the school system –vocational, special needs, college-bound – are all getting challenged and receiving the resources they need to succeed?” While looking out for the needs of students, the board also has the responsibility of using the town’s finances wisely, something Mitchell said he takes a middle of the road approach on. “There are some people who would spend a lot and some people want to spend a little, but I’m right down the middle,” he said. “(former superintendent] Bill Michaud did an excellent job budgeting. We budgeted at the ninetieth percentile and managed at the fiftieth percentile.” “The financial side of things is much better off,” said Mitchell. “We got the council to get buses out of the debt piece and into the operating budget to be renewed each year. The town has minimized debt – the biggest thing there is buildings, which it should be.” One of the major focuses of the School Board in recent years has been a series of construction projects, starting ten years go with the construction of a new middle school and continuing more recently with the renovations to the high school. This fall, voters will decide the fate of two proposed projects – a $38 million construction of a new Wentworth Intermediate School and $17 million in renovations to the middle school. “We’ve spent an enormous amount of time on the board on buildings and we need to get back to curriculum,” Mitchell said. But Mitchell said if voters don’t improve the $55 million in bonds for the two projects, buildings are likely to continue to be an issue the town has to deal with in future years and probably will have greater costs than the current estimates. “Do you do it now, or wait five years and do it at a higher cost?” he said. Mitchell said he thinks both projects are worthy of residents’ support and will serve the town’s educational and economic best interests. “The town should’ve built a larger middle school ten years ago, but they didn’t and we can’t change that,” he said. “We need to eliminate the portable classrooms and deal with the core structure of the building… it’s now or it’s two years from now.” “I went to school in Wentworth,” Mitchell said. “It makes no sense to spend $33 million on a 30-year-old building…for 50 percent more you could have a school that serves the town’s needs for 20 or 30 years.” Mitchell said the finished buildings, which would be significantly larger than the present ones, would pay off quickly as the town continues growing. “It’s much more economic to have big buildings,” he said. “Economy-wise, the bigger the building, the more effective it is.” Mitchell also said he hopes school buildings will be used more in the future for a range of community activities, such as services for seniors. “The schools are more than willing to facilitate as much use of the buildings as possible,” he said. One of the advantages of both proposals, said Mitchell, is that the projects are designed to minimize the impact of construction on students’ ongoing educational experience. “The earliest construction could start on either project would be the spring of 2008,” said Mitchell. “They wouldn’t finish until 2009 or 2010.” Regarding the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), another item on the Nov. 7 ballot, Mitchell said he thinks the measure has pros and cons. “The state tax rate is the real problem,” he said. “It’s not property taxes, it’s income taxes.” Overall, Mitchell said, “TABOR would have a minimal impact on Scarborough.” But he added that he thought that the issue has become very politicized, even locally. “Some people love to be in front of the camera and write letters to the paper, but I’m not interested in that,” he said. Mitchell said recent tensions between the School Board and Town Council are also largely due to “people who just love power and ego.” “I’ve seen some times when people work together on things perfectly well but then the camera gets turned on and they start getting worked up about things,” he said. “I think politics gets in the way of the town too much. We should be asking what the seniors really want and what the schools need.” Overall though, Mitchell had lots of praise for the administrators of Scarborough’s school system and local government. He said he was impressed with new superintendent David Doyle, appreciated the work Town Manager Ron Owens has done mapping out the debt structure related to the bond questions and felt the Town Council was taking important steps towards tax relief. “I think Scarborough’s Town Council is doing a great job at looking at taxes,” he said. Now that he is free from attending School Board meetings, Mitchell hopes to have more free time to spend with his family, including his daughter, who is currently in seventh grade.
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