ROCKLAND, Maine — The Rockland-area school board is divided on the extent of additions to its high school and middle school and ended up Thursday night postponing action until next month.
The board was scheduled to vote on a recommendation for $7 million in renovations to the two schools but Regional School Unit 13 Board Chair Steve Roberts said that package did not go far enough.
He objected to undertaking additions by a piecemeal approach, saying future projects would never happen.
The district has been in the midst of realigning its buildings as part of the Schools of the Future plan unveiled a year ago.
At Oceanside Middle School in Thomaston, the board’s facilities committee recommended adding a wing onto the school for four additional classrooms and expanding the kitchen and cafeteria. The projected cost is $4.1 million. The additional classrooms will allow sixth-graders to be educated in the middle school beginning next year.
At Oceanside High School in Rockland, the project will be limited to expanding the kitchen and cafeteria. The projected cost is $2.9 million.
Roberts said the committee’s recommended plan for the middle school would result in the existing cafeteria and kitchen being closed for a year while renovations are occurring. The kitchen at the middle school also cooks meals for other schools in the district.
He said the more comprehensive plan would include a new kitchen, which would allow the existing one to be used during construction.
Principal William Gifford gave an impassioned plea for supporting additional classrooms, saying students are jammed into the building now, particularly in the afternoons when sixth-graders from Rockland arrive.
The board will come together Nov. 3 to meet with its architects and decide what additions will be supported and sent out to voters in the late winter or early spring for a bond referendum.