By Darrell Halen

 The Windham and Pelham school districts share employees, resources and costs by belonging to School Administrative Unit 28.

But beginning in March, Windham voters might start the process of pulling their community out of the SAU.

A warrant article on the Windham school district ballot, if passed, would create a planning committee to study the impacts on each town if Windham were to eventually pull out.

“It’s coming to the point that if each had a superintendent for its own district, it would be beneficial,” said Windham School Board member Bruce Anderson.

Although it’s been cost effective for the two districts to share resources, both districts are growing, Anderson said.

Each community is pursuing high school projects. Windham, which currently sends its students to Salem High, is opening its own high school in 2009, while Pelham officials will be asking voters in March to buy land and construct a new high school in their town.

In the past few years, Anderson noted, School Board members made efforts to ease the heavy workload on its staff by bringing on an assistant superintendent in 2005 and giving each district its own business administrator this year.

Anderson acknowledged that Pelham might feel the greater impact if Windham withdraws from the SAU because its office is in a Windham-owned building. Pelham officials would have to find space to place its own SAU staff.

“It’s not spiting anyone,” said Anderson, who initiated the study committee warrant article during an early December Windham board meeting. “It’s what we think is best for both districts.”

The SAU has about a dozen employees, including Superintendent Frank Bass. Beginning in July it will have an annual budget of roughly $1,207,375.

Pelham’s contribution will be $601,199 while Windham will pay $606,176.

How much money each town contributes is based on its equalized property valuation and its number of students.

The communities also share the cost of preschool services.

In past SAU meetings, the subject of splitting up the SAU has been discussed by School Board members.

Eleanor Burton, a Pelham School Board member, said that during a semiannual SAU meeting in October, School Board members from both towns agreed to hold off on putting any warrant articles on their ballots in March and would revisit the issue at their next meeting in May.

Some of her Pelham board colleagues, she said, were unhappy that Windham members later decided to put a warrant article for a planning committee on their district’s March ballot.

“They thought it was unfortunate it was brought up before we met again,” Burton said.