THORNDIKE – How to find the right architectural firm for the district’s new high school project from nine applicants occupied an SAD 3 facilities committee Monday night.

The committee hopes to narrow the list of interested firms to three to five when it meets again Wednesday. Interviews with the finalists will follow later this month, and the school board is expected to choose one firm when it meets in January.

SAD 3 scored among the top five on a state Department of Education priority list earlier this year, making funding for a new high school likely.

Following state guidelines, the committee decided to try to narrow the list of nine applicants to no fewer than three and no more than six. The successful firm’s first task, committee chairman Read Brugger said, would be to provide an analysis on the district’s choice of renovating the existing Mount View complex or building a new facility.

The timeline for the project provided by the state shows the school to be completed by September 2006 or January 2007.

Monday night, the committee spent its time trying to craft questions to ask the architectural firms it will interview.

New Superintendent Daniel Lee cautioned the committee not to be swayed by the presentations alone.

“This is kind of like a beauty pageant,” he said. “They do this all the time.”

Lee suggested the committee ask prospective firms how many changes have had to be made during construction to schools they have designed.

“I’d be curious how they go about talking to teachers and principals and everyone else,” he added, intimating that a good firm will let its client, the district, influence the design.

Lee also recommended that the committee visit schools designed by the competing architectural firms after the list has been narrowed to three to five finalists.

A new requirement for state-funded projects of $10 million or more is that a clerk of the works be hired by the architectural firm and an owner’s representative be hired by the school district, board chairman and committee member Glenn Couturier said.

He and others stressed that it will be important to assess how the architectural firm’s employees will deal with the district when problems arise on the project.

Several committee members also stressed their hope of finding a firm with experience building “green” schools, or those that make good use of resources and are energy-efficient, and buildings that make good use of natural light and feature building products that do not give off toxic gases.

Mount View High School Principal Barbara Adams said she would like to ask prospective firms how they learned from projects that did not go well. Adams also suggested the firms be asked how they might incorporate safety into their designs, such as making the parking lot and main entrance visible from the office.

Committee member Don Newell said he wants to ask firms to outline the process they will follow in working with the district. Newell also suggested the firms be asked how they might design a school that costs more, but which saves the district money in operation and maintenance costs.

After reducing the list, the committee will refine its list of questions and hopes to interview firms Dec. 17 and Dec. 19.