ROCKLAND, Maine — The Rockland-area school board is expected to vote next month on whether to close two elementary schools in the district.
A proposed timeline for the reorganization of schools within Regional School Unit 13 was unveiled Tuesday night before the board’s finance and facilities committee.
A vote by the board to close the Lura Libby School in Thomaston and the Gilford Butler School in South Thomaston is scheduled for the full board’s Jan. 7 meeting.
At that same meeting, the board is expected to vote on hiring an architectural and engineering firm for anticipated renovations and additions needed to complete a proposed consolidation and reorganization plan.
The school board gave unanimous approval on Nov. 5 to a concept plan that would consolidate the high schools, merge the middle schools and close three other buildings. The third building proposed to be closed is the McLain School, which houses administration offices as well as alternative education classes. The McLain closure, however, is not proposed to occur until the summer of 2017 while the elementary schools would be closed at the end of the current school year.
A referendum would be needed in Thomaston and South Thomaston to close their individual schools. That vote is scheduled to be held between Feb. 9 and March 8 under the proposed timeline.
If residents in either or both towns reject the proposal, the buildings would remain open, but the municipalities would be responsible for the additional costs of operating those schools.
Tied in with the closure of Gilford Butler, which serves students in kindergarten through second grades is a proposed addition to the Owls Head Central School, which would allow the younger students to attend classes in Owls Head.
The rough cost estimate of the Owls Head project is nearly $1.5 million, but RSU officials have said that number would be refined after an architectural/engineering firm is hired.
To merge the two high schools, the administration is proposing an addition to the cafeteria at Oceanside High School East in Rockland as well as renovations to the locker rooms. The cafeteria expansion is estimated to cost nearly $700,000, and the locker room project would cost nearly $560,000.
Another $173,000 is proposed to be spent to expand the cafeteria at Oceanside West, which would become the district’s single middle school under the proposed consolidation.
In addition, the board has hired Siemens Industry Inc. to come up with specific plans to make the remaining school buildings more energy efficient. That would involve replacing heating systems and windows, and improving ventilation. The cost of those projects is expected to be offset by energy and operational savings.
Replacing the windows at Oceanside East are estimated to cost up to $800,000. Ventilation costs would be an additional $855,000. Board members questioned whether the windows needed to replaced in the building that was constructed in 1962 and which had some renovations done in the 1970s.
“The windows don’t work” and need to be replaced, said Oceanside West Principal William Gifford, who had been assistant principal at Oceanside East. “When there is a snowstorm and it is windy, you can walk into classrooms and there will be snowdrifts inside.”