FARMINGTON — The Mt. Blue High School and Foster Regional Applied Technology Center Building Committee has been busy explaining to the public the necessity of the proposed new high school.

“It’s an attempt to inform the public about the project,” said Mt. Blue Regional School District Superintendent Michael Cormier at Tuesday’s board of directors meeting. “We hope to set up a show with a tour of the facilities currently in place.”

He pointed out that a half-hour show on Mt. Blue TV had been held with architect Lyndon Keck of PDT Architects discussing the project. The Building Committee also displayed the plans at the Strawberry Festival last Saturday, and will meet with selectmen in the school district’s towns within the next several weeks.

“I think we’ll get some columns and letters from different organizations that want to go on record supporting it,” Cormier said.

The vote on the project takes place Sept. 15. The total project cost is $63,568,833, including $3,535,575 in local funds.

In other matters, two field trips were unanimously approved for the Mt. Blue High School cross-country team. Director Claire Andrews asked about where the $1,015 cost for the Acadia National Park trip was coming from and Transportation Director David Leavitt responded that it came out of the transportation budget.

“Does that mean all field trips throughout the transportation budget are put in this or just athletic ones?” Andrews asked. “I’m just curious.”

Assistant Superintendent Susan Pratt explained that athletic and local field trips for classes were part of the transportation budget.

“I think it’s a great field trip,” Andrews said. “It just seems strange to me there’s not as many elementary trips covered under the transportation budget.”

The final plan for the new Mallett School will be presented to the Farmington Planning Board on Aug. 10. An informational site meeting will be held at the proposed site behind the present Mallett School on Aug. 12, which Pratt noted is part of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection process.

On Aug. 25, school district representatives will meet with the Department of Education for final concept approval. Pratt said that if the project is approved by state officials and voters, construction will commence in May of 2010.

In other business, the board approved resignations from Deborah Pelletier, special education teacher at Cape Cod Hill School; Amanda Huggins, half-time reading recovery teacher at Cape Cod Hill; Tara Blue, educational technician at the Mallett School; and Janelle Leblond, an educational technician at the Cushing School.

They approved one-year probationary contracts for Bethany Cote, sixth-grade teacher at Academy Hill School; Chelsea Arnold, math teacher at Mt. Blue High School; and Nathan Theriault, social studies teacher at Mt. Blue High School.

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