By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

DIXFIELD – Despite the warm wet winter, frozen ground is impeding progress on SAD 21’s new $14 million elementary school.

Last month, SAD 21 referendum voters overwhelmingly favored the project. However, a required American Indian archaeological survey has to be completed before the district can buy the land on which the new pre-kindergarten-to-fifth-grade school is to be built.

On Wednesday, Superintendent Thomas Ward said the survey was started, but placed on hold until spring after the ground froze.

He said the district still retains options on the 35 acres, and has made a down payment to the handful of landowners involved.

“We were hoping to pay them when the referendum was approved, but it’s always something,” Ward said.

“The reality is that a large part of the property was a gravel pit, so it’s already been dug up,” he added.

If there are any artifacts to be found, he said they probably would be located in land surrounding the gravel pit. It is believed that artifacts were found in the area from a dig in the 1970s.

From an education standpoint, Ward said, “It would be great” if artifacts were found, but not so great for the proposed new school.

“I hope they don’t find any Native American artifacts, because they’ll have to do a dig, and then the matter would be, how long is that going to take?” he asked.

In other SAD 21 business, directors at Monday night’s meeting rescinded a Nov. 21 vote to accept a bid by Bangor Savings Bank on a three-year note for $72,593 for a new school bus.

Ward said Canton, Carthage, Dixfield and Peru residents have only authorized the board to spend up to $70,000. That means the additional money will be taken from the Transportation Department budget.

Directors then accepted low bidder Key Bank’s interest rate of 4.29 percent on a $70,000 note.

The board also chose Key Bank’s bid of the same rate for a $50,000 note to buy computer hardware, which was OK’d by budget voters last year.

And, after a 30-minute executive session, directors also unanimously agreed to readmit a student who was expelled last fall. Ward declined to provide any information about the student or why the pupil was expelled.