Leaders from School Administrative District 1 are holding a public engagement meeting Thursday to continue the conversation about planning for the district’s long-term building needs.
The joint meeting of the building and grounds committee and strategic planning committee convenes at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Pine Street Elementary School.
The topic of discussion is long-term planning for school buildings, said Clinton Deschene, SAD 1 assistant superintendent for business.
“With the year ending we thought it timely to update the public on our work this winter and spring,” Deschene said.
The meeting will include updates on several areas that Deschene and others with the committees have been working on, including a conceptual plan to close Pine Street Elementary and new school construction applications.
SAD 1 has applied for two separate school construction funding programs with the Maine Department of Education.
One of the applications is for the MDOE’s newest round of school construction grants that will fund new schools in districts with the most need. The other is for the Integrated Consolidated 9-16 Educational Facility Pilot Project, a new program under the LePage administration that sought proposals from districts to create a “9-16” regional high school that incorporates career, technical and higher education.
The DOE is expected to announce the recipients for both grant programs in February, and the agency’s decisions will leave SAD 1 with its own choices to make.
At the meeting Thursday, the strategic planning committee will be releasing a recommendation for the SAD 1 school board to consider if the district does not receive funding for a new school.
If no new state funding is awarded, the committee is recommending that the district gather community input on a conceptual plan that would close Pine Street Elementary and consolidate the rest of the buildings.
Currently Pine Street hosts pre-K to grade two, Zippel Elementary grade three to five and the middle school six to eight. The concept would move pre-kindergarten to grade five students to the middle school, move grades six to 12 to the high school and move administration and other departments into Zippel.
Deschene emphasized that no formal plans have been adopted and that any such changes would have to be approved by the school board and by voters in the district’s five municipalities — Presque Isle, Mapleton, Chapman, Castle Hill, and Westfield.
It is clear, though, that SAD 1 leaders want to address the issue of the district’s aging buildings.
SAD 1’s application for new school funding cites a plethora of problems with the district’s three oldest Presque Isle schools, including high heating costs, sub-par air quality, poor natural light and outdated building layouts.
“The buildings’ age, quality and aesthetics directly impact student achievement,” the SAD 1 application states.
The buildings have “sustained an aesthetically excellent condition,” but that conceals “systems and maintenance that require repair in excess of what SAD No.1 can afford.”
Out of a more than $20 million annual budget, the district spends $2 million just to operate the school buildings, and it’s on track to spend $15 million in capital costs over the next 10 years.
In the new school construction application, SAD 1 is asking MDOE for funding to build a new elementary school for pre-kindergarten to grade 8.
This option would bring elementary students, teachers and staff to one place, and would allow for the closure of Pine Street, Zippel Elementary and Presque Isle High School. The high school, along with other district departments and programs, would be located in the current middle school, which was built in 2005 and is only about half full.
The application also mentions several possible variations on this option, including one that would involve building a new school while keeping and renovating the high school.
