Roof repairs continue as new school studied Board worries work may endanger state funding

HERMON – Roof repairs and renovations will go forward while the building committee continues to investigate whether a new middle or elementary school is needed.

That’s the message Ed Marsh, chairman of the School Building Committee, brought to the school board Tuesday night. Marsh said he wanted to clarify the planned work at the middle and elementary schools while looking into whether the district should build a new school within the next decade.

Marsh said that the confusion arose last month when a meeting notice incorrectly stated that plans for a new school would be displayed and discussed. Instead, the committee actually went over plans for the roof renovations at the middle and elementary schools.

Residents approved borrowing $1.4 million for the repairs at a special meeting in May, according to Marsh. The majority of that money will be used to replace the roof at the middle school and repair the roof at the elementary school.

The school committee also has requested money from the state’s revolving renovation fund. The announcement of which districts will receive funding is expected to be announced later this month. The project will go out to bid next month and be completed over the summer, said Marsh.

“Concerns have arisen about how we look at both projects – the approved renovations and the possibility of a new school – concurrently,” Marsh told the board Tuesday. “If we keep our roofs from collapsing, will that push us down lower on the state list for a new school in the future?”

Douglas Smith, board chairman, said that he and other board members met last month with members of the State Board of Education and asked “that very same question.” Smith said that while he did not feel he got a definitive answer in Augusta, he did not think that going forward with building repairs would hamper the district’s future efforts to get a new school.

Oak Point Associates of Scarborough is working on a facilities assessment of the middle and elementary schools that should be completed this spring. Marsh said he expected it to show that “both schools have serious deficiencies.”

Once that report is completed, building committee members will consider whether to seek state and voter approval to build a new elementary or middle school, according to Marsh. He estimated it would take between six and 10 years before a new school could be completed and ready for students.

In other business, the board agreed to meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17, at the municipal meeting with the town council to discuss the 2001-2002 budget and other financial matters. The building committee will meet Thursday, Jan. 18.