📰SACO | TA vs. Saco School Board

~Letter to the Buzz~ June 11, 2026

By Mike Burman, Saco Resident and Former City Councilor Ward 4

I’ve been following the TA-Saco situation carefully, including the meeting on Wednesday June 10th. To be honest, I found the whole thing embarrassing. For context, I have served two terms as City Councilor for Ward 4, served on the Saco School District strategic planning committee, served as founding member of the Saco Education Foundation (originally Saco STEAM), am a Professor and Scientist at UNE, and a parent of a current TA student and a recent TA alum. I’ve seen the issues from both inside and outside the city. I know the challenges of private education. What I saw last night was a crowd of people, riled up and fed a lot of misinformation that encountered an underprepared and stressed school board. As a former elected official, I feel for the school board members, but neither side should feel proud of themselves today.

As Representative Archer said at the meeting, the relationship between TA and the City is symbiotic. Neither can thrive without the other. There is no question about that. NO ONE wants to end the relationship. Anyone suggesting otherwise is either ignorant of the facts or trying to manipulate the public. In fact, I saw a lot of public manipulation last night that made me disappointed. Below are the facts as I understand them.

When I served as a parent representative on Saco School’s strategic planning committee in 2018, a major issue was a lack of integration between the K-8 curriculum and TA’s 9-12 curriculum. After all, a major goal of K-8 is to prepare students for high school, but Saco Schools simply felt they weren’t getting information needed to assess their success. Did the curricula align? Were our students succeeding? The Saco School department simply didn’t know. To be clear, TA had a representative on the committee and commitments were made to communicate better, but it doesn’t seem to have happened. Following my experience on the strategic planning committee, me and several other parents identified the need for an educational foundation in Saco. We tried to start one. First as Saco STEAM and then as the Saco Educational Foundation. We were in close communication with the Superintendent and curriculum staff. There were continuous concerns about the lack of authentic collaboration with TA and feelings about a lack of respect for the K-8 curriculum from TA. This was all prior to Jeremy Ray’s tenure as superintendent. Thus, the lack of data sharing and communication between Saco Schools and TA is not a new problem and cannot be laid on the shoulders of any one individual. At the school board meeting last night, I learned that from TA’s perspective, they do invite the superintendent to board meetings and are always willing to provide data, but it’s Saco Schools that refuses to participate. Of course, that’s opposite of what I heard from the Saco School department for years. While I’m curious as to the truth, it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that our kids have a comprehensive and coordinated preK-12 curriculum that serves their best interests. Personal egos need to be put aside and both sides need to find a way to collaborate better.

As a City Councilor, I was aware that the TA-Saco contract was expiring. I was not on the negotiating committee, but tried to stay close to what was happening. From my perspective, the Saco School department reached out to start negotiations early. TA simply didn’t respond – the basic belief from my perspective was that TA didn’t feel a need to change anything about the contract other than raising the tuition. Saco didn’t feel the same way. Free lunch is a big deal. Data sharing and preK-12 curriculum coordinating is a big deal. Special Ed access is a big deal. After all, TA is a private school, but the Saco School board is both legally and morally responsible for the well-being of all Saco kids. We are obligated to take care of all of them. Once negotiations started, we were far apart. Saco wanted a seat on TA’s board – a non-starter from TA’s perspective. We wanted free lunch for all students, but TA either couldn’t or wouldn’t participate in the Federal program and was locked into a contract with their food provider. We also wanted greater special ed programming to meet the needs of all Saco students, something TA simply didn’t offer. That the two sides have overcome all those obstacles to get so close to agreement is a testament to the hard work on both sides. It’s amazing. In my mind, the remaining two issues are small and should be easily resolved compared to the original distance between the sides once the parties agree to sit down and work towards a resolution.

This brings me to the meeting last night. It was both awesome and terrible. The show of support for TA was amazing. In all of my time, I have never seen that room so full. Good for the community. But it also put an unaware city and school board on their back foot. They were not preprepared for the literal parade of people coming to call them out. Friendly negotiators would have asked for a public meeting in which both sides could come prepared with plenty of notice. That didn’t happen. Instead, I found out from a text from my child, who’s teacher told her that Saco students might not be able to attend TA next year. That’s crazy. TA’s administration then launched a well-coordinated campaign to stir up concern and drive a crowd to the school board meeting. Again – there is no world in which Saco students cannot attend TA. Anyone who says otherwise is either lying, ignorant, or trying to scare you. To scare our kids is irresponsible and mean. TA was well prepared with emails, speeches, and PR. The Saco School board, made up of caring volunteers who have full time jobs and lives outside of the school board, was caught largely by surprise with only a day to adjust. I feel for them. I saw them say some stupid things. That’s regrettable. But it doesn’t change that they are great people doing their best in what is largely a volunteer position. I know them and they give so much time and energy to supporting our families and kids. Imagine how you would perform if a crowd of people showed up well prepared to criticize you with hardly any notice. The personal attacks and bullying online surely do not reflect the TA pillars that the community claims to hold in high regard.

As a former City Councilor and school advocate, I’m not sure that sharing a superintendent with Biddeford and Dayton is best for Saco. I was skeptical when it happened, although it’s largely worked out better than I feared. More importantly, anyone who knows Jeremy Ray knows that he is among the hardest working, kindest, dedicated people in Saco. His contributions to K-12 education in the state are second to none. He’s the best around and has frequently been recognized as such. Accusations of corruption, bias, or self-serving interests are insane and offensive. Is the current system the best for Saco? Reasonable people can disagree. Is the superintendent a great person working in the best interest of Saco students every day? 100%. The attempts at bullying him and the school board are out of line, offensive, inappropriate and need to stop.

Headmaster Menard is rightfully proud of what TA accomplishes. TA has been so good to my kids and family. My children have thrived there – in large part due to the amazing teachers and staff. We love them. There is nothing negative I could say about our experience there. It’s outstanding. Similarly, Superintendent Ray is rightfully proud of all of his successes in public education. He’s transformed how education works for the better – no small feat in such an economically diverse and politically difficult climate. I also get that the two accomplished and successful men don’t always agree. Egos clash. Nevertheless, it’s time for those egos to be set aside and both (or all) parties to come together, finish the contract, rebuild the relationship, work together, and support our kids. For the public, we need to lower the temperature, allow the process to play out, and support both TA and the Saco School department in working together for our community. An angry crowd throwing accusations doesn’t represent who we are. We can do better. We must.

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