LIVERMORE FALLS — There are “tough decisions ahead,” RSU 73 Superintendent Bob Wall told members of the school board’s facilities committee Wednesday.

The committee is exploring options for high school students and buildings.

One of those options is keeping both campuses of Spruce Mountain High School in Jay and Livermore Falls open for another school year.

They would need to stay open for at least a year, if an addition is built.

Neither campus is currently large enough to hold all high school students in the district. The Jay school has 81,624 square feet and the Livermore Falls school has 68,996 square feet, according to a report by architect Craig Boone of Bunker & Savage Architects.

It is estimated that it would take between $2.5 million and $2.8 million to get the Livermore Falls school up to code and between $1.2 million and $1.3 million to do the same in Jay.

An addition to either school would take about 18 months to build, Boone said.

“This process is not only about buildings,” Wall said. “This process is about our challenge to prepare for and promote a responsible future for our students.”

Currently, the north campus has 231 students and the south campus has 301 students. There are 63 juniors and seniors, combined, who attend Foster Career and Technical Education Center in Farmington.

One option is to build a 14-classroom, two-story, addition on the Jay school. The addition would contain specialized education programs. An estimate of cost for 23,000 square feet is $4.9 million, plus $80,800 to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act and $1.3 million to upgrade the school.

If a 600-seat performing arts center is also built, the district is looking at another $8 million.

Another option would be to build a smaller, six-classroom addition.

Wall plans to bring costs and amortization charts, a list of programs administrators would like to offer, and other space options at the committee’s next meeting at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, at the Cedar Street Complex in Livermore Falls.

Initially, it was planned to present a recommendation to the full school board on Thursday, Nov. 10, but that is off the table now.

The facilities committee could also look at phasing the students together next year by keeping both schools open. The south campus could serve grades 10, 11 and 12 from Livermore and Livermore Falls. The north campus could serve all freshmen and Jay students.

There could be a vote to close the south campus between December 2012 and 2013.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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