Schools reorg question removed from November referendum on MDI, Trenton
MOUNT DESERT, July 10, 2025 - There will be no referendum in November on whether to consolidate K-8 schools on the island and neighboring towns, Superintendent Mike Zboray confirmed today.
The Reorganization Planning Committee decided to postpone the vote after two community forums in Trenton and Southwest Harbor and will take more time to gather feedback, Zboray said.
The community forum in Bar Harbor July 14 will go forward, slated for the high school.
The decision came after about 80 persons attending a Southwest Harbor meeting recently overwhelmingly opposed the proposed consolidation under which its school would become a regional middle school and the K-6 kids would be bused to other towns. Details of that were lacking, frustrating many parents.
The RPC asked SWH participants to clap in favor of one of three scenarios: If they did not support the plan; if they needed more information on the plan; if they supported the plan. The first got the loudest reaction.
Some who opposed the busing of the young children nonetheless supported changing the administrative structure from an Alternative Organizational System, which has nine different school boards, to a Regional School Unit with one uber board.
Zboray said that question also will not be on the ballot in November.
Under the proposal, only one of five owns - Trenton, Bar Harbor, Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor and Tremont - needed to vote no for the initiative to fail.