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PANAMA -- The petition period is currently open for the Clymer, Sherman, Panama Central Schools merger process, and with that period, designated people are traveling around each of the districts to get signatures for community support of the process continuing.
With that, some confusion has come as well with some Panama residents, and Mayor William Schneider is looking to help clear up some of that confusion. At the Village Board's September meeting, Schneider said he has received some phone calls from residents who expressed some confusion and concerns about people going door to door.
"I've had several phone calls with the merger study about the school merger and this time in regards to the petitioning," Schneider said. "This time there were some concerned residents about people coming around door to door, if it was legitimate. I had to explain to them that this is a legitimate process, where they have designated individuals, and you can look it up on the school website who those assigned individuals are. Those people will come to your house and ask you to sign the petition."
Panama's designated petitioners are; Alison Bernik, Adam Brandi, Robert Delahoy, Ricky Eggleston, Sophie Horner, Jenn Johnson, Carrie Munsee, David Munsee, Chelsea Saxton, Michele Sperry, and Jessica Willett. Schneider added that the petition is not a vote yes or no, but is looking for community support to continue the process and get more in-depth information.
"If somebody wants to opt-out of the petition process they can call the school and they will put their address on the opt-out list," Schneider said. "There's around a dozen petitioners from each school and they split the areas up and they're methodically going around and asking for support and are also able to answer some questions about the process and what is going on."
Schneider said he tries to follow the talk on social media as well for the merger, and that he has seen many people who are not well informed spreading some information that is misleading or false because they have not gone to any of the meetings to ask questions or get informed themselves. Two more town hall meetings are coming up soon, with the next one scheduled in Panama on September 16, beginning with a school building tour at 6 p.m. and a town hall at 7 p.m. The town hall at Clymer is September 24 at 7 p.m.
"So I just wanted to mention that because I have gotten questions about it as mayor, and I don't know if anyone else has gotten questions about it, but they were asking for guidance and were confused a little bit," Schneider said. "On the public's behalf, they have had a lot of information bombarded at them. So, if we can help spread the word and also dispel any bad information about what is going on; because this petition is not a vote."
More information on the CSP Merger process can be found at CSPhub.org.