Charleston to act on solution to school closing

CHARLESTON – Municipal officials are working on a plan to continue educating local elementary school-age children in the community while simultaneously district officials are preparing to move the children to Dover-Foxcroft.

Because of structural problems identified at the Charleston school, SAD 68 officials said they plan to vacate the school in mid-January and bus the youngsters to the Morton Avenue Elementary School in Dover-Foxcroft.

“We have been reacting, reacting and reacting in the last three years; we can’t catch up,” SAD 68 Superintendent Donald Siviski said last week.

Because of the snow load on the school roof, which is brittle and in poor shape, classes were canceled in Charleston earlier this week and again Friday for snow removal. Siviski had told town officials earlier that for the safety of the youngsters, the school would be closed with any significant snowfall. However, teachers were present at the school during the snow days packing up equipment and supplies for the move to Dover-Foxcroft, the superintendent confirmed Friday.

The proposed move doesn’t sit well with local residents, who attended a special town meeting last week to discuss the issue with school officials. It had been anticipated that residents would take some action at that packed meeting to rectify the situation, but found that the wording of the warrant articles would be nonbinding.

Another town meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 27, at Town Hall. Residents will act on six articles that provide funding for a short- and a long-term solution. Residents will vote whether they want to install portable classrooms at a site in Charleston and pay the associated costs that might include a new well and septic system. For the long term, residents will decide whether they want to hire a structural certified engineer to evaluate the condition of the 41-year-old school to determine its safety and continued use.

Residents also will be asked if they wish to hire an attorney to represent the town’s interest in the school matter.

“The goal is to keep our children here,” Charleston Selectmen Terri Hall said last week.

The point was made loud and clear last week, that as a member of SAD 68, Charleston had helped fund a new school in Monson, a new addition to the SeDoMoCha Middle School in Dover-Foxcroft and other projects along the way, and now expected that the district would help them keep the “fabric of their community” intact.

A petition signed by 139 people requesting that the school remain open and maintained was presented this week to directors. The petition also asked that in the event of an emergency, the youngsters be educated at another facility in Charleston .

School officials say they have tried to help the town by seeking state construction or renovation funds, but have not been successful. Because engineers retained by the school identified foundation, roof and wall problems, directors want a move made as soon as possible for the safety of the children. The school is “functionally obsolete,” Siviski said.

The least expensive option to the district is a doublewide portable classroom installed in Dover-Foxcroft where the 59 children could share the school’s gymnasium, bathroom facilities and other services. This will disrupt some services currently provided to Morton pupils.

The total cost for the setup and installation of a doublewide portable classroom in Dover-Foxcroft for six months is $23,400. That cost would more than triple if portable classrooms were used in Charleston. The district would need to lease three classrooms to provide space for gym, arts, music and computers. The classrooms would require bathrooms at an extra cost, Siviski said.

Some residents said they felt betrayed because the district had not maintained the building over the 30 years the district has been a SAD 68 member and for not keeping them abreast of the situation. Siviski said the district had spent $42,000 in the last three years in repairs and renovation to the school.

One resident, who is involved in insurance, asked if the district had filed any claims for the water and ice damage to the school over the years. Siviski said he had made telephone inquires in his short tenure with the district but found the damages were not covered.

Others questioned the tactics of the board for proceeding with the Dover-Foxcroft classroom when town officials were trying to find another solution.

“We seem to be fighting a moving target,” Barry Higgins, chairman of the Charleston budget committee, said last week. Every week, town officials learn from district officials about another problem with the school that had previously been unknown, he said.

A few parents reported that their children were told at school that the building might collapse under the weight of the snow, which frightened them. Why, if engineers determined the school was unsafe in 1999, have the children continued to attend the school, they asked. Some suggested that the school isn’t in as bad shape as directors portray it.

Charleston resident Ken Churchill said he was not a structural engineer but knew enough about construction. “We can rest easy, that building is not going to fall down,” he said.

Siviski asked residents to support the short-term solution of taking the children to Dover-Foxcroft while a long-term solution is developed. “A long-term solution is not going to be easy,” he admitted, however. Especially in view of the fact that projections indicate the district will receive $100,000 less in subsidy next year. He speculated that the two long-term options would be to build a new school or mesh the Charleston pupils into the Dover-Foxcroft-based schools.

One resident suggested that the state should use the $55 million set aside for laptops for school construction. Another suggested that the district should negotiate to reduce the $5,300 per pupil tuition costs to Foxcroft Academy, where district high school children are educated. If the district as a whole took a stand, FA would have to reduce the tuition rates, she said.

Even others suggested that the town could remove their middle school pupils from SeDoMoCha Middle School to increase the numbers and place the town in a better position for school construction funds.

“Once those kids go over the [Charleston] hill, they won’t come back,” more than one resident remarked.