LINCOLN – SAD 67 Superintendent Michael Marcinkus hasn’t begun studying energy efficiency within SAD 67, but workers have already done much to improve school buildings, he said Wednesday.

A series of projects totaling at least $195,696 at Dr. Carl Troutt School of Mattawamkeag, Ella P. Burr School, Mattanawcook Academy and Mattanawcook Junior High School will improve school safety and efficiency or lower energy costs, said Robert Morin, director of facilities.

The projects complied with an engineering study done by James W. Sewell Co. of Old Town and should be finished by Sept. 1. They include:

. Partial roof replacement at Burr. The gymnasium roof has been replaced and the gymnasium entirely insulated with 2-inch rigid foam insulation for about $20,780. The roof there lacked insulation, Morin said.

“It should make a significant difference in terms of reducing our heat loss there,” Marcinkus said Wednesday. “It will be a lot cooler there in the summer and a lot warmer in the winter.”

. Parking lot expansion and repaving at the junior high for about $50,925. Just completed, the work made the lot safer and more efficient while lessening the need for on-street parking, Morin said.

“We desperately needed more room over there to get more people off the street,” Marcinkus said.

. Pavement patching at Burr for about $2,400. The work slightly expands the school parking lot and removes a great deal of crumbling pavement that represented a safety hazard, Marcinkus said.

. Repaving at the SAD 67 bus parking lot at the academy worth $13,071. This involved excavating mounds of construction debris – mostly concrete foundation – left at the school decades ago that created sinkholes, Morin said.

. New fire alarms at Troutt and the junior high that were installed last month, Marcinkus said.

The Troutt system cost $18,260, Morin said. No cost estimate was available for MJHS’ system. About 70 percent, or $12,782 of the installation costs will be paid by the state.

. New fluorescent lighting in the MA gym for $10,260. Besides improving an antiquated lighting system, the work triggers a rebate of about $5,400 by Efficiency Maine while saving as much as $2,200 in electricity costs annually, Morin said.

“This will probably pay for itself entirely in about two years,” Marcinkus said.

. New smoke and odor suppression hood units in the kitchens at Ella Burr and MA. A cost estimate wasn’t available.

. A new 120-volt power line at Burr for $30,000. Besides improving electricity efficiency at the school, workers averted a huge potential problem, Marcinkus said. They found that water had been infiltrating the line.

“That was a disaster waiting to happen,” Morin said. “If that had occurred during the winter, it would have probably forced us to close the school.”

SAD 67 serves Chester, Lincoln and Mattawamkeag. About 1,225 students attended school from those towns during the 2007-08 school year.

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