RANGELEY – A new roof has been put on, a new boiler system installed and now school officials are tackling handicap accessibility and security at Rangeley Lakes Regional School.

In the existing budget, voters agreed to raise $260,000 to continue making improvements at the school instead of going out to bond, School Union 37 Superintendent Philip Richardson said.

A study was done several years ago identifying the needs of the school built in 1978 and school officials have been picking at it ever since.

They expect to ask for more money in the coming budget but don’t know exactly how much they’ll need.

Initially it was to be $520,000 over a two-year period, including the $260,000 raised in this year’s budget, Richardson said, but how much will be requested in the coming budget is still unknown because of projects going out to bid and yet to be done.

One of those projects is handicap accessibility with the first priority targeting renovation of the bathrooms, Richardson said.

They also plan to make the doors to get into the building and to classrooms easier to open.

“We want to make sure people get into the building,” he said.

Every door that a person might need to get into except janitor closets will have a paddle handle installed, he said.

The door handle adjustments will also allow teachers to lock classroom doors from the inside to make them securer in case of an emergency, he said.

The bathroom accessibility renovation project is out to bid now with a non-mandatory pre-bid meeting scheduled at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, at the school.

The bids will be opened at 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 10.

School officials are also trying to get bids on renovating the central office so that the secretary would have a clear view of the hallway, he said.

This year, they plan to fit as many projects as they can get done with the $260,000 budgeted.

In the future, Richardson said, he wants to address inefficiencies of lighting at the school to update the 20-year-old lights and save money.

“I’m trying to save taxpayers money but like I said to (residents) last year, ‘the school is like a house – if you have a house, you have to constantly fix it up,'” he said, to keep it maintained.

The new roof and other projects were bonded in the past, and there is a debt service of $138,000 annually, which will go away in a few years.

But instead of putting the new projects to bond, such as the bathroom renovations, he asked voters to raise the money last year through taxation over a two-year period.

“We felt it’s cheaper to bite the bullet a couple of times,” he said.

, rather than paying bond payments and interest for years to come.