WHERE THE SCHOOLS ARE

Where schools are built can have a major impact on the character and growth of a community. With a push from state education officials, communities are consolidating small schools and building new ones near town centers. This is a welcome change.

For years, many believed the state’s school construction policy contributed to sprawl by requiring large lots for new buildings. Such lots are typically found at the edges of town, not near their centers. In July, the State Board of Education removed the minimum acreage requirements from the site- selection criteria. The rules had required that an elementary school site have at least five usable acres, a middle school at least 10 acres and a high school 15 acres.

The acreage was needed not just for the building, but for parking, bus traffic and recreation areas and playing fields. The acreage could be noncontiguous and the board could waive the minimum acreage requirement if a district proved there was no alternative site and that a smaller one met the board’s other criteria. Removing the minimum acreage requirement eliminates a problem, whether real or imagined.

Prior to the rule change, there was already a shift in school-construction patterns. Communities building cen-trally located schools that span many grades or combine several smaller schools are a relatively new and positive development. Old Town, for example, was faced with four elementary schools that needed major upgrades or replacement. The town built one new school to house all the town’s kindergarten through fifth-grade pupils. Belfast and Dexter have done similar things.

The changes began roughly in 1998 when a panel, appointed by then-Gov. Angus King, recommended changes to the state’s school construction policy. With an eye toward not exacerbating sprawl, the rules were re-written to require that new schools be in an area identified by the town for growth. This was meant to increase the connectivity between schools and the community, said Jim Rier, a former member of the State Board of Education who served on the panel and now works for the Department of Education.

The report also recommended that the State Planning Office be part of the process of reviewing new construction plans. The SPO would like new projects to maximize the possibility of students walking to school, a good request given kids’ growing waistlines. Another positive change from the state board, which must approve construction projects that receive state funds, is to ensure that districts consider renovating or reusing portions of old schools before deciding to build new buildings.

Since the changes, all construction projects that have been put to a ref-erendum of local voters have been approved, says Mr. Rier. Previously, voters rejected 17 percent of them. Often sites were chosen before consideration was given to space needs and a local desire to have the easily school accessible to the community.

Building a new school is a major undertaking. Making sure it is in the right place is crucial.