SALEM – SAD 58 directors awarded a contract for a Stratton School addition to R&R Construction Inc. of Lewiston at a board meeting Thursday.
The project is expected to stay within the $950,000 budget agreed upon in May, according to SAD 58 Business Manager Anne Stinchfield.
Stratton School Principal and Assistant Superintendent Lorrie Arruda was pleased with the district’s decision.
“It’s great,” she said. “I have had some teachers in portables for 13 years. We have five classrooms outside. We have weathered all the weather, and it’s just going to be so nice to have everyone all under one roof.”
She noted that R&R Construction won the bid for the addition. “They did the Phillips school and the Kingfield School, and they did beautiful work. I know that they will do a wonderful job here at Stratton,” she said.
The town of Carrabassett Valley has budgeted $45,000 in addition to what it pays in tuition to the district as the Carrabassett Valley Enrichment Plan, according to Arruda. “It’s difficult enough sometimes to afford students the day-to-day activities,” Arruda said. “And when you have a wealthy community as your neighbor and they can spend extra it’s very, very generous and we do appreciate it.”
The district plans to use approximately $25,600 of that money in a volunteer coordinator program. Another $4,000 of the enrichment budget will be used in a mini-grant program, in which teachers can apply for grants for special projects, she said; $4,000 will be given as scholarships for the district’s principals. Finally, Arruda said, the remaining $11,400 has been allocated to a team building program in conjunction with Camp Kieve, of Nobleboro. SAD 58 plans to hold the three-day long program for district eighth-graders at the Carrabassett Valley Academy. It’s intended to help students from the various schools in the district get acquainted before entering Mount Abram High School.
Enrollment in SAD 58 schools has risen slightly to 974 students, compared with 965 enrolled in June of 2005.
Thursday’s meeting was the district’s first since Hurricane Katrina hit. Superintendent Quenten Clark talked to board members about the need to organize district relief organizations. According to Arruda, Clark suggested that “one group or committee,” such as the student council, oversee efforts in all schools.
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