Old Town panel views plans for new grade school Construction set to begin next spring

OLD TOWN – The new elementary school approved during last month’s referendum could go out to bid in December, Superintendent Owen Maurais told the school committee Monday.

The superintendent displayed preliminary plans for the building, which would replace the city’s four elementary schools. It will be built behind the YMCA on Stillwater Avenue.

As drawn up by PDT Architects of Portland, the school would have a classroom component of two floors, each shaped like a baseball diamond.

Each floor would have two wings – each wing with eight classrooms aligned along two base paths. One wing would be the triangular area from second base to third to home, the other from second to first to home.

The area in the middle – say, from second through the pitcher’s mound to home – would include the library, computer labs, teacher’s rooms, art room and reading rooms.

Off the classroom area would be the administrative wing, a gymnasium that could seat 600 in chairs and bleachers, a cafeteria and music rooms.

Maurais also displayed the site plan by DeLuca Hoffman Associates of South Portland, indicating that the access road to the school could be across from the Dunkin Donuts on Stillwater. A traffic light would be installed at the intersection.

The superintendent said he hoped plans could be completed next month so that the architects could draw up the blueprints. Construction would begin next spring, with the school to open in 2003.

This summer, renovations are taking place at the J.A. Leonard Middle School, Maurais added.

Asbestos ceiling tiles have been removed from classrooms, and now the gym floor is being taken up. The new floor is scheduled to be installed next month, with completion by Aug. 20.

New lighting is being installed on the first floor, a continuation of work that began last year on the second floor. That project should pay for itself in two or three years, thanks to savings in electrical costs.

Minor renovations are being done in the foyer area at the high school this summer, but the committee also voted Monday to approve an application to the state for an addition to the high school.

With the current school undersized – the facility will have 10 classrooms in portable buildings this fall – the need is there, Maurais said.

In addition, pending construction of the new elementary school makes this a good time to apply for the addition, he said. If the state approved the project, construction at the high school would not cost the Old Town taxpayers any extra because they are already paying their local share on the elementary school. In school construction parlance, the limit is known as the “circuit breaker.”

In other business, the board approved several appointments:

. Ronald Weatherbee, mathematics teacher, Old Town High. Weatherbee has taught in Lincoln since 1977.

. Stephen Boyd, assistant football coach, Old Town High.

. Paul Smith, social studies teacher, Old Town High. Smith has taught in Howland since 1987.

. Michael Bowen, social studies teacher, Old Town High.

. Jenny Robbins, educational technician III, Old Town High.

. Kimberly Lane, educational technician III, J.A. Leonard School.

. Melinda Carr, special education teacher, Herbert Gray School.

. Cynthia O’Keefe, educational technician III, Herbert Gray School. O’Keefe taught at Herbert Sargent School in the 1970s.

. Ann Moody, educational technician.

Also Monday, the committee accepted the resignation of Keith Holland as a social studies teacher at the high school. He is moving to southern Maine to teach at Sanford High School.

At the end of Monday’s meeting, the committee congratulated Maurais for being one of three recipients of the Outstanding Education Leadership Award from the Maine School Superintendents Association.