Jun. 17—The Scarborough School Building Advisory Committee voted to support a neighborhood schools model to ease school space issues, bringing the months-long process one step closer to a referendum vote.
The specifics of the plan must be approved by the Maine Board of Education and Town Council in the coming months before appearing on the ballot. The committee vote was 12 to 8.
“It’s a 50-year decision,” said Charlie Peters, the chair of the committee, at the meeting. “We’ve got one chance to get it right.”
This updated three-neighborhood K-2 schools option, which is estimated to cost $129.85 million after deductions, would result in demolishing and rebuilding the Eight Corners School site, as well as adding one-story additions to Blue Point School and Pleasant Hill School as permanent replacements for portable classrooms. This option will also include $3.6 million in additions to Wentworth and $28.65 million dollars of improvements to the middle school, enough to meet current capacity needs. These improvements are estimated to cost taxpayers an average of $400 a year.
The committee considered two primary options: a consolidated school model, bringing multiple schools under one roof, or a three-neighborhood schools model. The former proposed the construction of a new school on a new site to merge all K-2 schools into one school, and in this plan, all existing K-2 schools would have been taken back over by the town. At Monday night’s SBAC meeting, the latter involved three variations — replace Eight Corners on a new site, replace Eight Corners on the existing site, or renovate the existing building.
“Ultimately, it comes down to cost,” said committee member Avae Traina. “Ultimately, it comes down to what is going to pass.”
Committee members quickly decided construction on a new site was too pricey, and they determined that the $5.9 million estimated cost difference between a new build on the Eight Corners site versus renovations to the existing building was a worthwhile investment.
The SCAB estimated that the new version of Eight Corners will serve 380 students, Blue Point School will serve 232 students and Pleasant Hill will serve 224 students with the proposed additions. These changes are estimated to increase primary school capacity within the town by 194 students, on par with Scarborough Public School’s projection of an increase of almost 200 K-2 students in the next five years.
Though some committee members argued that a consolidated school model was more cost effective and involved less educational interruption, they recognized that public opinion more strongly favored a neighborhood schools model. In the most recent community survey, 58% of the participating residents said that they would strongly support and support three neighborhood K-2 schools at referendum. Many cited that students will continue to learn in their neighborhood, supporting more opportunities for students to walk or bike to school.
With this plan, some committee members were concerned about the educational impact of three years of construction at Eight Corners School, something that the committee determined was higher for this option than options that involved construction off-site.
Lisa Sawin, the lead architect, explained that construction will be completed in two phases. Once one side of the construction is completed, enough to house the current student population, the construction will begin on the other side of the school. Each phase is estimated to take between a year and a year and a half. The site will remain secure, and the department will try to mitigate educational disruption. Students will retain access to spaces like a cafeteria throughout the process.
Originally, the neighborhood schools model involved the construction of a new school on a different site to replace the Eight Corners School, but after a surprising soil result increased estimated costs by $20 million, the committee decided to consider a more cost effective option. The demolishment and rebuild option was estimated to cost $141.5 million before deductions.
To keep costs as close to the $130 million ceiling, the committee approved approximately $11.65 million in deductions to the project, all of which were targeted to the middle school.
The committee shaved off $8.8 million by deciding to build just enough classrooms to move the 6th grade class from portables but not allocating enough funds to build extra classrooms to meet projected enrollment numbers. The committee also saved $1.2 million by changing the design of the middle school renovation, removing a physical education classroom and decreasing the square footage of one of the music rooms.
The committee, aware that 63% of the respondents to the most recent community survey either opposed or strongly opposed the deferment of renovations to Wentworth and the middle school, voted to recommend the $10 million cut from the base price as a second referendum question that could be approved in addition to the larger project.
To save money, the committee also decided to address minor renovation items at the middle school, like window, painting and flooring projects, through capital improvement projects, rather than as part of the larger project, saving $1.65 million.
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