NEWPORT, Maine — Some of the most decrepit school buildings in Maine are one step closer to extreme makeovers — or being replaced, according to the Maine Department of Education.
The department reported Wednesday that it will commit to fixing or totally rebuilding six schools on its School Facilities Priorities list. Of 71 applicants on the list, area schools in Corinth, Sanford, Newport and Fryeburg were chosen to get construction money. The approved school projects include two each in Newport and Sanford.
The announcement came as a huge relief to Newport-area schools superintendent William Braun. Two of his schools topped the list, with Newport Regional Elementary School ranked No. 3 and Nokomis High School No. 6.
Like all other schools on the list, Braun isn’t sure what he will get or what his budget will be. Officials at the Maine Department of Education don’t know either. The department’s construction debt is capped at $110 million. That includes about $95 million the department already has taken on for projects from the last 20 years or so. This means the six projects can’t add more than $15 million of debt per year.
“As debt gets retired there is more and more money available each year. And we won’t have to bond these projects for a few years,” said David Connerty-Marin, Education Department spokesman. “We’ve committed to these six projects, but not a schedule — that depends on the budget and the economy. We can speed up and slow down projects to make sure we don’t get beyond a certain level of debt.”
Each school will undergo a review process to see what makes the most sense: to improve the school or tear it down and replace it. For instance, Newport’s school district has five elementary schools, so it might make sense to build a new, larger elementary school and close three others.
Newport Elementary School made its way to the top because its students in pre-kindergarten through fourth grade must walk outside to get from some classrooms to others and to the library, school office or gym. It also is full of asbestos. The school already had to tear down walls full of mold and stick a new roof on the building, which was erected in the 1940s. Tear it to the ground, Braun says.
But Nokomis Regional High School has strong bones, he said. The high school has more technical, rather than structural, problems. For instance, if students in the school plug in too many computers and have too many lights on, the entire building might lose power.
“We keep breaking circuit breakers,” Braun said.
The building also needs a fire alarm system, sprinkler system and more.
“It’s a long process. It won’t happen tomorrow,” Braun said.
The wait, Braun said, will be worth it. “This will make an incredible difference in people’s lives. The environment does have something to do with education quality.”
The No. 1 school on the approved list is Corinth’s Morison Memorial School, which according to the superintendent has a building layout that is not conducive to learning.
The school has no gym or cafeteria. The students must walk to the nearby middle school for their physical education classes. Further, the kitchen is right next to the main entryway, which would block student egress in case of fire, said Daniel Higgins, Regional School District 64 superintendent.
Higgins said Wednesday he was happy that it was no longer a question of if the school would obtain funding, but “a question of when.”
Groundbreaking for the projects likely will happen in the next two to four years, according to Connerty-Marin.
Schools selected to get funds, in order of priority, are: Morison Memorial School in Corinth, Sanford High School and Regional Technical Center, Newport Elementary School, Emerson School in Sanford, Charles A. Snow School in Fryeburg and Nokomis Regional High School.
However, Connerty-Marin said it’s not exactly the schools themselves that were targeted for the money, but the populations they serve. For instance, both Braun and Higgins expect that they might rebuild their elementary schools as larger buildings so they can take students from the other elementary schools in their areas.
School district applications for projects are reviewed by state Department of Education evaluation team members, who conduct site visits and meet with school officials. Applications are ranked by a number of criteria, including unsafe building and site conditions, program-related facility and system deficiencies, enrollment and overcrowding, and programs and planning.
On a scale of 200 points with 200 being the worst, the six schools selected for improvements this year all were above 140.
I hope the state helps Corinth They do so much with so little compared to Bangor. Teachers are payed much less. Now the test scores might not be as high but the dropout rate is less . With kids coming from lower socieconomic classes. Kids being bused from much further away to get to school in a district where a large percentage of kids can not even get internet . We need to look at the whole picture before we rank schools. I would much rather see 1 kid get a dilploma then 10 go marginal kids go college that probably will not finish in the first place.
children going to school with asbestos in it in Newport? shameful.
All of these communities need upgrades or new buildings. I went to Emerson School in Sanford in the seventh grade, it was old then and I’m 71! Newport Elementary should have been number 2 on the list.
Just a matter of time before an overloaded electric system starts a fire.
Id like to know how Nokomis, with a building that is as old as the main part Hampden Academy would just get a “refit” while Hampden gets a 50 million dollar school.
From what I understand of the process, the superintendents have to do an application with the state. Finances determine how much the state can afford to do. Also, anything above and beyond what the state will pay for, the district has to come up with (why Hampden wanted more than the state would pay for….no surprise there). Of course it wouldn’t surprise me at all if certain districts got favored in the process.
Hamden is a rich town. We do more for the elite just the way it is. I remember being laid off applied for job training and was told they have to give priority to laid off mill workers . Funny they made much more when they were working and got much more handouts.
I’m a parent of children in the RSU/SAD 64 schools. Morrison Truly needs this. I wish That they would build one school for the whole area.Just like Thorndike did. Kenduskeag & Bradford Elementary school are as bad as The Morrison school. Kids here are bused all over the place.
Why didn’t you mention Stetson? That’s the worst one in the district.
Honestly I haven’t seen the Stetson School. I know the school was slated to close but the town voted to keep it open and pay the cost of operation of the school. There was no mention of the school being bad until now. Do you agree,one school for the whole district would be best ?
The buses go to Corinth anyway. So why not have one big elementary school there? Does anyone know why that wouldn’t work?
….
Why not lease some portable classrooms? wouldn’t that be cheaper?
Leasing portable classrooms at Newport Elementary would still mean that the 3rd and 4th graders have to walk outside to get to the gymnasium or the library, and the kindergarten through 2nd grades have to go outside to get to the gym.
Cheaper how about safer. My child has to walk with the class over a bad drive-way to another school for gym. His classroom is in one of those so-called-portables that is not connected to the school. The only barrier is a old looking wood fence. Morrison has over 200 hundred students in a small school that doesn’t even have a lunch room. Their lunch is brought over from the high school. The children eat in the class rooms. It would be cheaper on the towns to consolidate to one large school that services the SAD 64 district. There is an Elementary School in Kenduskeag and Bradford. Hudson has grades 3 and 4. Morrison has grade 3 through 6. Junior High is grades 7 and 8 in Corinth. High school is 9-12 in Corinth. If your child needs special services. They go to Kenduskeag and Morrison. There is a lot wasted taking these children to the different schools and there is a lot of students that do bus changes.
I’m no expert, but there must be a way to connect portable classrooms together so children don’t have to go outside.
The schools cannot attach a rented unit to the main building. To retro fit a school with a temp attachment is wasteful of funds.
” However, Connerty-Marin said it’s not exactly the schools themselves
that were targeted for the money, but the populations they serve. For
instance, both Braun and Higgins expect that they might rebuild their
elementary schools as larger buildings so they can take students from
the other elementary schools in their areas.”
When MSAD 38 broke up and Etna/Dixmont joined RSU 19, many were the parents of EDS students who feared what Braun hints at above- that EDS would be shuttered in the holy name of consolidation and that EDS students would be shipped to Newport. After reading the comment above, it seems to me that those fears might have been justified.