BYRON – RSU 10 Superintendent Tom Ward met with the Board of Selectmen on Thursday evening to discuss the possibility of the town withdrawing from the school district.

The meeting with Ward came after residents voted at the annual town meeting March 11 to petition to leave the 12-town district. The article also authorized selectmen to borrow and spend up to $25,000 to hire an attorney to start the process.

Much of the meeting focused on the board, the residents and Ward discussing whether or not it would be beneficial for Byron to leave and pay tuition, or stay.

Head Selectman Anne Simmons-Edmunds told Ward that if Byron were to withdraw, they would “pay considerably less tuition because of the number of kids we have.”

Ward replied, “With towns like yourself, and Andover and Roxbury, you pay the most per student. The state average cost for tuition is $9,000 a student. The larger towns, with more students and lesser property values, are paying less than you folks do.”

As an example, Ward said Sumner is currently paying about $5,800 per student, while Byron is paying just over $11,000 per student.

Simmons-Edmunds pointed out to Ward that “at $9,000 per student, and with 21 students right now, that’s $189,000 that our town would have to raise to send our kids, tuition-wise. Yet, you’re going to charge us around $273,000, which is like, $84,000 more.”

Ward replied, “It’s not as easy as you’re making it sound.

“You folks are between a rock and a hard place,” he said. “Any town that has 20 or 25 kids are up against it. The problem is, you’re responsible for more than just tuition. You’re responsible for all the special education costs. You have to pay the tuition, and if you have any special needs students, you have to pay all their costs. If you have one out-of-district student that has enough special needs to be placed in an institution out of the district, it can cost you $120,000 a year. That’s why, historically, small towns have always stayed with the SADs, because they couldn’t afford to take that risk.”

Ward suggested the town send two or three residents to the office of Jim Rier, state deputy education commissioner, who would likely have a lot of information about the benefits and risk of withdrawing from the district.

“He’s the guy to talk to about this stuff,” Ward said. “He’ll give it to you straight.”

RSU 10 has 2,800 students from the towns of Canton, Carthage, Dixfield, Peru, Buckfield, Hartford, Sumner, Byron, Mexico, Roxbury, Rumford and Hanover.

In other business, Simmons-Edmunds told residents that she contacted the Maine Municipal Association about the petition to recall her from office.

She said they informed her that they “have no problem with her and Selectman Noyes handling the recall petition by themselves.”

“MMA said that even though one of the selectmen is being recalled, we can still set the date and accept the petition,” Simmons-Edmunds said.

The board set May 8 to vote on whether or not Simmons-Edmunds should be recalled from office, and May 14 to vote on who will replace Selectman Patrick Knapp-Veilleux, who resigned for personal reasons during a special town meeting March 27.

The recall petition, drafted by resident Robert P. Bourassa, was submitted March 21, nearly two weeks after residents overwhelmingly voted against a mandatory firearms possession article at the annual town meeting.

The petition provided five reasons why Simmons-Edmunds should be recalled and removed from office, including subjecting residents of the town to ridicule, embarrassment and disrepute, failing to inform voters of a state law that would have voided the firearm ordinance, if passed, and misleading voters at the annual town meeting regarding a newspaper story about her by telling them she was misquoted.

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