SAD 31 high school takes shape Board votes place project on schedule to open in September 2007

HOWLAND – SAD 31’s new high school building will house grades seven to 12, cost $4.5 million to $6 million, sit in the footprint of Penobscot Valley High School and will open its doors in September 2007.

Or at least that’s the concept the SAD 31 board of directors approved during a meeting Wednesday night with a series of mostly unanimous votes. Superintendent William Ziemer was pleased.

“We’re very much on schedule,” Ziemer said.

The votes accomplished the following:

. Approved a general design concept that, if approved by the state Department of Education, would cut in half the original cost estimate of about $9.6 million, replace a closed wing of PVHS and Hichborn Middle School and renovate other areas of the building.

. Continued the employment of architect Steve Rich of WBRC Architects and Engineers of Bangor to shepherd the project through its conceptualization phase for not more than $25,000. It also directed a school board committee to review WBRC’s contract.

. Hired a firm, Planning Decisions Inc. of South Portland, for $2,450 to do long-term school population and SAD 31-area economic development projections vital to the eventual shape of the new high school building. The numbers will help determine how big the school and its budget need or can afford to be.

. Instructed school staff to begin planning to move grade six from Hichborn Middle School to Enfield Station School for the 2006-2007 school year, although the vote does not necessarily mean that the move will occur.

The series of votes, Ziemer said, also keep the school project on its tight timeline. The state deadline for the project conceptualization plans is Feb. 2. Concept approval is due in June. Construction is due to begin in January 2006 with the doors opening about a year and a half later, he said.

Moving the sixth grade from Hichborn to Enfield Station School will help allow for the new construction on a limited amount of space and also help with a program reconfiguration, he said.

“With this, we can provide a better delivery of services,” Ziemer said.

The votes did not come without reservations. Board member Michael Garfield and Chairwoman Beth Turner didn’t like the idea of hiring Rich without a more detailed contract, particularly a written estimate of exactly how much he would expect to earn.

“I’m really uncomfortable signing him a blank check,” said Garfield, who voted against hiring Rich. “It’s a bad thing to do.”

But board member Bruce Hallett, who chairs the ad hoc building committee handling the high school project, said Rich’s contract expired Wednesday. The services provided by Rich and his firm are essential to the conceptualization process. Not rehiring him Wednesday night would probably throw the project off its timetable, Hallett said.

The board also was uncomfortable with extra expenses the votes incurred. Ziemer estimated that the board has already overspent by about $50,000, but said that could be compensated for by using the school system’s undesignated fund balance, about $75,000 to $125,000 set aside for such contingencies.

Voters would have to OK using that money in that manner before it could happen, he said.

SAD 31 provides for the education of 236 students in Burlington, Edinburg, Enfield, Howland, Maxfield, Passadumkeag and Lowell, although Lowell officials plan to leave the district.