Staff Writer
ASHLAND – Residents of SAD 32 turned out by the hundreds in support of the construction of a new pre-kindergarten to grade 12 school.
Last Thursday, voters headed to the polls in Ashland, Masardis, Garfield Plantation, Oxbow Plantation, and Portage Lake, and resoundingly gave their blessing on the building project. “Ninety-five percent of the voters approved the referendum,” said SAD 32 Superintendent Gehrig Johnson. “At 70 percent, we would have considered that a mandate for the building, so 95 percent is phenomenal. It was a very large turnout … a very heavy turnout for those communities.”
According to Debbie Carney, deputy clerk at the Ashland Town Office, the Ashland turnout was almost as high as the Presidential election in 2004.
“We had an awesome turnout. In 2004, we had 698 people vote for president,” said Carney. “That’s only 192 more than voted for the school referendum. We had 506 voters just for the town of Ashland, and just 20 said ‘No.’ The kids are just overwhelmed and excited about getting a new school. It was a very important issue, and people wanted to make sure that our kids got the school.”
Voting results are as follows:
• Ashland – 486 Yes, 20 No,
• Masardis – 90 Yes, 6 No,
• Garfield Plantation – 33 Yes, 5 No,
• Oxbow Plantation – 25 Yes, 1 No,
• Portage Lake – 155 Yes, 6 No.
“The total was 789 Yes and 38 No,” said Johnson. “The referendum was the last big decision … ‘Do the people want this to happen?’ and obviously the answer was, ‘Yes.’ It was an overwhelming vote of confidence for this project.
“We’re very appreciative of the overwhelming support,” he said, “and now my job is to go to work to put a building that the people will be proud of in the fall of 2010.”
The new school will accommodate about 350 children in pre-K through grade 12, and will include about 84,000 square feet of space. The Superintendent’s Office will also be housed on school property in a renovated building.
“The new school is designed to meet current and future educational needs of students for space and educational programming,” said Johnson. “The entire facility will be made handicap accessible and energy efficient.”
The blueprints call for an auditorium designed to seat 345, and an expanded gymnasium with seating for 400.
“The existing gym does not meet the Maine Principals’ Association standards,” said Johnson. “As a result, when Ashland hosts tournament games, the games must be played in a neighboring school district.”
New paved parking and driveway with separated bus drop-offs, play areas, and landscaping are also included in the project to make the site safer and more functional. Furnishings, computers and much needed equipment are also called for in the project budget. An 80,000-watt back-up generator will also allow the continuation of full power during electricity outages.
Johnson said the huge turnout indicates “tremendous support for the school.”
“To me, the vote says a lot about how this community feels about education and how strongly they feel about having a clean, safe and modern facility for their kids for generations to come,” he said. “There will be a cost to them, and unfortunately they have had some situations to deal with in terms of two mills closing recently, but in spite of all that, they turned out to support the referendum.”
The new school will cost $21,937,928, of which $20,217,000 (91 percent) will be paid for by the state.
“The estimated increase in the average mill rate for education will be .96 mills or a little less than $1 for each $1,000 of value,” Johnson said. “On average, a local taxpayer with a residence valued at $70,000 could expect to see an increase of about $67 per year in property taxes.”
Johnson said the next step will be the final design and funding approval by the Department of Education.
“We’re anticipating that might take place in May,” he said. “For the next several months, the architects [Lewis & Malm Architecture of Bucksport] will do their work – working with us fine-tuning the project – and when they have the architectural design complete, then we go to the state board with it.
“Once the final design is OK’d by the state,” said Johnson, “we’ll prepare the bid documents which will go out New England wide. The bids will probably go out in June or July, the awarding of bids would be shortly thereafter, and we hope – if everything goes well – to be breaking ground in the fall.”
The new building is expected to be ready for the beginning of school in September 2010.
