MINOT – The School Committee made it clear Tuesday night that now is not the time to think about providing laptop computers for Minot’s students attending Poland Regional High School.

“With everything else that’s coming down the pike, we just can’t afford them,” said board member Karen Whalen.

Chris Woodford raised the issue of the Palesky tax cap. Board members Larry Bates and Steve Holbrook said they weren’t convinced that the laptop program provided benefits commensurate with the cost.

Superintendent Nina Schlikin said she brought up the issue because the Poland School Committee was interested in developing a more comprehensive laptop program than the state’s and wanted to gauge Minot’s level of support.

Schlikin noted that the Mechanic Falls School Committee didn’t think this was a good time to bring up the matter.

“Mechanic Falls has to cut what it can offer eighth-graders,” Schlikin said.

Principal Margaret Pitts reported that she has begun to prepare an estimate of the tax cap’s effect on the Minot Consolidated School.

Saying that she had been asked, for discussion purposes only, to see what cutting $255,000 from the current budget might mean, Pitts figured the more visible effects would come from eliminating two classroom teachers and an educational technician, and dropping all extracurricular activities.

Schlikin pointed out the difficulties in preparing an estimate of the tax cap’s effects, but she thought the numbers being used are reasonable. She further cautioned that townspeople, acting at town meetings, ultimately will decide budget amounts.

The School Committee signed a resolution indicating its opposition to the tax-cap initiative.

Union 29 Director of Operations Gordon Murray asked the committee to take formal action on how it chooses to deal with the interlocal agreement for the construction of the Union 29 central office in Poland.

Bids for the project came in higher than what the three towns had agreed upon. Murray asked the Minot board if it wanted to raise its share of the overrun or accept a lower percentage of ownership in the completed building.

The committee unanimously agreed to accept a lower percentage of ownership rather than go through the process of raising more money.

Murray reported that air tests at the Minot Consolidated School revealed that the mold problem that appeared last summer has been eliminated. He also reported that he is working with state environmental officials to write a letter that will be sent to parents of students of Minot Consolidated School, explaining how the issues of arsenic and radon in the school’s new well are being addressed.

A few weeks ago, Selectman Steve French suggested that Murray consider using water from the well at the town garage rather than from the school’s new well.

French estimated that if water from the town garage well met arsenic and radon guidelines, it would be in the town’s best long-term financial interest to use that water. Murray agreed that it was worth looking into, and that for the $100 a simple arsenic and radon test might cost, it is worthwhile.

French and Murray agreed they should also take a close look at what affect the town’s sand and salt pile might have on water quality.