DIXFIELD – Directors were surprised to learn at Monday night’s SAD 21 meeting that the state will not pay the whole price to buy land for a new elementary school.
At the district’s public informational meeting Monday night on concept design for the new school, Lyndon Keck, of Portland Design Team Architects of Portland, said the state would only pay $22,992 of the $53,500 price for three parcels in West Peru totaling 34.9 acres.
The district’s share is $30,508, Keck said.
“If you look at it from that perspective, that’s a good deal,” said Superintendent Thomas Ward.
“The state is only funding 24 acres, because that’s all they will allow for a school of this size. I was very surprised by this,” he added.
Keck said the new school, for which the state has agreed to pay, has been approved by the State Board of Education for 380 students, which they rounded out to 400 students.
“The infrastructure is where most of the state money goes,” Ward said.
“In the past, the state has had a hard rule to only pay for 125 square feet per student. We’re at 154 square feet, and to date, they have bought the program,” Keck said.
Last week, the state approved three parcels – 26.9 acres, 4.4 acres and 3.1 acres on Route 108 in West Peru – for the site of a new 300-student elementary school.
“The (state) Construction Committee has been very generous to us on square feet. We’re getting more than we normally would,” Ward added.
Keck said the state is willing to work with the district, which includes Canton, Carthage, Dixfield and Peru, because voters agreed to consolidate three small schools into one elementary.
The new school, which replaces Canton, Dixfield and Peru elementary schools, is expected to open in 2008. It is to serve students in pre-kindergarten through grade five.
But the district cannot yet buy the land.
Keck said that even though the state has approved the site, 60 days must pass before the district and its design team can seek concept design approval.
He said the earliest would be Sept. 13, but, because the State Education Board of Directors is holding a retreat then, either the first or second week in October is the earliest that they can seek approval.
Once that’s done, the district must wait until a public referendum can be held on the design.
“The day after the referendum, you can purchase the property,” Keck said.
According to a preliminary schedule, the referendum could take place in either November or December.
Keck also walked the board through two possible floor plans for the new school, revealing a two-story and three-story “flying wedge” layout.
The three-story structure would have two stories above ground and a basement.
Directors picked both designs apart, prompting Keck to say he’d return with new, more detailed designs for the wedge-shape and a U-shaped school, for the board’s next concept design meeting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 15 at Dirigo High School in Dixfield.
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