November 21, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

SAD 37 application for building funds to get high priority

HARRINGTON — SAD 37 will receive early consideration of its application to the state for funds to build a new classroom wing and a vocational education wing at Narraguagus High School. State approval of the two building projects would add about 13,000 square feet of instructional area at the school.

The proposal to build a new classroom wing has been placed at the top of a list of similar projects to be considered in January 1991 by the state Board of Education, according to Superintendent Joseph White. The list of projects to be considered by the state board in January also includes school-construction proposals from Calais and Glenburn.

Approval of the Narraguagus project would make state funds available in 1991 to begin construction, according to White.

Also under consideration by the state is a separate application from SAD 37 to build a wing at the high school for vocational education classes. If approved by the state, the facility would be open to students from East Machias, Jonesport, Lubec and Machias. The vocational-education facility in Harrington would supplement existing programs in building trades and marine occupations that are offered at Machias High School and Washington Academy, respectively.

White said the school district would like to build the vocational wing at the same time that the new classroom wing is under construction. Planning for the construction projects would be easier, and some financial saving could be expected to result, White said.

C. Richard Malm of Bucksport, an architect, has been hired by the school district to design both of the proposed construction projects.

Malm has produced a floor plan for the proposed classroom wing. The new wing would be built at the western end of the high school and would be adjacent to the home economics and business education classrooms. The plan calls for two special-education classrooms and classroons for art, English and French. A clinic, a resource room for migrant students and two bathrooms would be included in the new wing.

The proposed building project also would include renovations of the existing building. The proposed renovations would involve the teachers’ room, the offices of the guidance director and the assistant principal, the school library, the music room and the business-education classrooms. A bathroom would be modified to accommodate handicapped people.

Malm has predicted that the cost per square foot to build classroom space could be $109 by next year. His cost estimate was from $1.6 million to $1.9 million for a building project combining the proposed classroom wing and a vocational education facility at Narraguagus High School.


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