A year after petitioning to leave RSU 10, voters in Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner to decide Tuesday

The Buckfield Municipal Center. Photo by Judith Meyer. BUCKFIELD — Marking the end of a long and contentious process, the Buckfield Hartford Sumner RSU Withdrawal and Reorganization Planning Committee met for the last time Thursday before residents vote Nov. 3 on whether to withdraw from Regional School Unit 10. The committee met for the 57th time since forming last fall, when residents of Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner approved exploring withdrawal from the Western Foothills School District. Committee members’ remarks leading up to the meeting reflected the toll of the yearlong effort. At an Oct. 21 public forum in Hartford, audience members asked about pursuing withdrawal later if next week’s referendum fails. One committee member asked rhetorically if residents realized how much time the work took away from families. “I wouldn’t do this again,” he said. Another committee member agreed, saying it was one of the most time-consuming boards on which she had served. The committee worked to evaluate the feasibility of withdrawal, develop a proposed structure and budget for a new three-town school district, fulfill state-mandated procedures and share information with the public. Maine mandates a 22-step process for communities seeking to withdraw from a regional school unit. The process begins with a petition signed by at least 10 percent of the voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election. In August 2025, volunteers in Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner collected 119 signatures, exceeding the required threshold. The petition triggered a vote in all three towns in November 2025. After voters approved the measure, four residents from each town formed the 12-member withdrawal committee. The committee met frequently over the past year. Members worked with school representatives, legal counsel, an education consultant and others to draft a formal withdrawal agreement with the RSU 10 board of directors, then negotiated with the Maine Department of Education to finalize it. The agreement addresses the division of assets and liabilities, along with the proposed district’s transportation, staffing, enrollment projections, administration, governance, recordkeeping and finances. In addition to its public meetings, the committee produced documents detailing transition and proposed first-year budgets, and held multiple community forums to give residents an opportunity to ask questions or state their positions. Although chairs filled the large room at the Buckfield Municipal Center, no residents attended Thursday’s meeting in person. At that meeting, the committee discussed the proposed new district’s nutrition budget, a subject of frequent questions and opposition from some residents at public hearings and in emails. Committee member Erin Hinkley said gathering details on RSU 10's current nutrition budget has been difficult. The committee spent the rest of the meeting planning next steps after the Nov. 3 referendum. If voters in all three towns approve withdrawal, representatives from each town will form a transition team, and voters will elect a new school board in January. The new three-town school district would become operational July 1, 2027. If one or more towns vote against withdrawal, the referendum fails and all three towns remain in RSU 10. To attempt withdrawal again, the towns would typically have to wait two years before restarting the 22-step process from the beginning. An exception to the two-year waiting period exists. After reviewing letters from the state commissioner of education, Buckfield Town Manager Cameron Hinkley informed the committee that an individual town can restart withdrawal immediately if more than 45 percent of its voters support leaving the district. If that happens, the town would need to restart the entire process with a new petition. The town would then pursue withdrawal alone, a scenario potentially even more complex than the three-town plan now under consideration. Emotions and public engagement around the referendum are running high. At the Oct. 21 public forum, one resident noted the large turnout, saying: “This is very important to all of us. That’s why so many people are showing up. We think this is more important than what is happening on the state level and the federal level.” After the meeting, two committee members told Monitor Local they could not predict the outcome of the vote. Officials said they expect results within 48 hours of the election. Marna Miller is a Community Reporting Fellow receiving training through the Journalism New England Career Lab to do civic reporting that provides people in towns across New England with the information they need to be engaged in their community.