Calais to seek state approval for school renovations

CALAIS – It was just a sampling of voters, but if a straw poll Monday night was any indication, city kids will be attending classes in renovated facilities.

The concept calls for $8 million worth of additions and renovations at the high and middle schools. When the projects are complete, the middle school pupils will be divided, with the seventh- and eighth-graders attending classes in a separate unit at the high school, and the fifth- and sixth-graders housed in a separate wing at the elementary school.

The next step is for the school committee and its architects, Oak Point Associates of Biddeford, to meet with state officials. If the state approves the proposal, there will be a citywide referendum on the issue this spring. Voter approval of the plan could allow construction to begin as early as October.

The city has grappled with the problem of where to house the middle school pupils since it was forced to close the aging Calais Middle School on Washington Street because of health and safety reasons. Since then the pupils have been housed in portable classrooms next to the old middle school building.

For a time it appeared that the city would renovate the existing middle school, but a depressed economy and declining enrollment caused that plan to be scuttled.

The high school was built in the 1970s to accommodate at least 500 students. Now fewer than 200 attend. Moving the seventh- and eighth-graders there will add 100 pupils. There are 175 pupils at the elementary school. The middle school’s fifth- and sixth-graders would add 95 pupils.

Also at issue is the high cost of maintaining three school buildings. By abandoning the middle school building and upgrading the two remaining facilities, the city can address the maintenance problems that exist there.

During the public hearing at the Calais Elementary School on Monday night, more than 50 voters reviewed the plan to add more than 2,000 square feet to the high school and more than 16,000 square feet to the elementary school.

The changes planned for the high school include renovation of classrooms to create a separate unit for the middle school pupils. The high school students will be moved to the back of the building. There will be a large library-multimedia section with entrances from both areas of the building. The combined facility will allow one librarian to work with all the students. Each group will have its own computer lab.

Plans also call for major renovation of the roof. Almost from the day it was built, the high school has had problems with its roof, including water leaks.

The building will be redesigned to minimize contact between high school students and middle school pupils, but school officials conceded there would be some overlapping. High school principal Jim Underwood said he was pleased that electric service throughout the building would be upgraded, the school would become more handicapped-accessible, and that a sprinkler system would be installed. He said he does not believe the loss in the overall number of classrooms would pose a problem. “I see it as a golden opportunity for all of us, and I think the kids are going to benefit,” he said.

The changes at the elementary school will include the addition of several small wings at the back of the building. The new space will allow the kindergarten-through-third-grade pupils to be housed in one wing, with the fourth-through-sixth-grade pupils in another. There also will be a larger library-multimedia center and a large gymnasium. The new gymnasium will have lockers and bleacher seats. The existing gymnasium will be converted into a multipurpose room.