Building Committee Approves New Construction

Post date: Oct 15, 2015 5:44:29 PM

At their last meeting, the Building Committee unanimously approved the architect's recommendation to construct a new high school building on the current campus. This information will be shared with both the School Board and with Maine Department of Education. Ultimately, the State will determine whether they support the renovation or new construction.

A common theme in public meetings on the project was a concern about displacing any students during construction. The idea of housing students in portables or other locations around the district was not viewed favorably by many who offered their ideas and suggestions at the four meetings. It was nice to see so many people attend the meetings, held throughout our four towns, and we appreciate folks taking the time to become informed, ask questions and make suggestions.

The MDOE is asking to see both the reno vs. new study, and site fits together. We now have five possible ways to site a new construction on the current campus. It is important to remember that each fit is merely a representation of how much space a new facility would occupy on various locations on the current campus. These are by no means designs or determinations of the school building, but simply a way to determine if the school would "fit". We are confident in the multiple ways that new construction can be done on our site. MDOE will need to approve the site as well.

As we move forward, we will present the site selection at a public meeting, hopefully late this fall, and ask for a "straw vote" on it. The results of that vote must be positive in order to move forward. No date has been set.

The subcommittees are also having their initial meetings. They will report out monthly to the Building Committee, who will continue to work closely with the architect.

The Building Committee was also given the Educational Specifications which will also be presented to the School Board in November. Ed Specs, which must be approved by the School Board prior to being sent to MDOE, are used by the architects in the development of program and space. Compliments to Donna Brunette, HS Principal, her committee, and all the staff and public who provided input regarding their hopes and concerns about the MTA project. The Ed Specs are well done and represent many hours of input gathering from various stakeholders.