GRAY – On Monday, the school board will meet with town officials to talk about leasing the Pennell Institute building to the town for municipal offices. SAD 15 would rent a portion for its administrative offices.
The meeting of school officials and town leaders from Gray and New Gloucester will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Stimson Hall.
The institute and the adjacent Anderson Laboratory building are part of an educational trust administered by Maine’s attorney general.
The school district stopped using the institute last fall and sought to dispose of the property in a way that conforms with the terms of the trust and the needs of the community.
Interim Superintendent Victoria Burns said, “We cannot advocate dissolving the trust. This is an important obligation. We are the stewards of it. We can’t advocate to dissolve.”
A recent survey of the building by the James Sewell Co. shows it needs more than $1 million in renovations.
Henry Pennell upon his death in 1884 bequeathed his building and land to the town to promote and advance the cause of learning, education and good morals. The Anderson building served as a laboratory.
The town of Gray used the institute until 1961 when SAD 15 was formed with Gray and New Gloucester.
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