LIVERMORE FALLS — New ideas were discussed Tuesday about how to get high school students together, provide them with quality education, and keep it affordable to taxpayers.

High school teachers are expected to make a presentation on what they would like to see at the RSU 73’s facilities committee meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29, at the Cedar Street complex in Livermore Falls.

RSU 73 Superintendent Bob Wall stressed that no decisions have been made. It is still in the conceptual planning process, he said.

Emotions and frustrations ran high at times at Tuesday’s facilities meeting. It revealed that whatever the decision is going to be, it will be tough and not everybody is going to like it.

Both Spruce Mountain High School campus buildings in Jay and Livermore Falls need to be brought up to code and in compliance with federal and state regulations. The work is estimated to cost up to $2.8 million in Livermore Falls and $1.3 million in Jay. A list of the critical needs will be discussed at the next meeting.

On top of that, neither school is large enough to hold the combined student body without an addition.

Options discussed included having students in grades six through nine attend the middle school in Jay, and grades 10 through 12 attend the adjacent high school.

Another option is to have grades nine and 10 attend the Jay high school  and 11 and 12, the Livermore Falls high school.

A third option discussed is moving middle school students to the high school in Livermore Falls and having high school students housed in both the Jay high and middle schools.

The latter hit some resistance since the middle school was designed for a middle school and built in 1996. It houses grades six through eight from Jay, Livermore, Livermore Falls and tuition students from Fayette.

The Livermore Falls school was built in 1967 and added to in 1982.

Another option is sending all ninth-graders to Jay along with Jay’s 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders. Livermore Falls would serve grades 10, 11 and 12 from that area. Students still have school choice.

This option also met with some concern about the students attending the Livermore Falls school not feeling part of the district.

Additions were also discussed, including a six-room addition, a 16-room addition and a performing arts center.

If the board decides to go with the Jay school and add technology and administration additions, the cost, including the amount needed to bring it up to code, is estimated to be nearly $5 million.

If both high schools are kept open, it is estimated to cost up to $4.06 million just to bring them into compliance with codes.

The district’s debt service is decreasing yearly, Wall said. The Jay Middle School will be paid off in November 2017 and the Livermore Elementary School paid off in November 2019, he said. Between the two, it will be $5.6 million of debt unloaded, $3.5 million for the middle school, $2.1 million for the elementary school.

If one high school is closed, it is expected to save about $632,896. If the board decides to close the Livermore Falls school, voters in Livermore and Livermore Falls would have the final say. If the majority votes to keep it open, it would be taxpayers in those two towns paying $632,896, plus their share of RSU 73’s regular budget, Wall said.

Board Director Tim Madden of Livermore said it would take longer than 18 months to build an addition.

“Eighteen months is a dream,” he said. “We don’t have any drawings. We don’t even have a plan.”

The board needs to focus on what can be done to get the students together for next year, he said.

“We don’t want to do something when we don’t have a plan,” he said.

He suggested they think smaller, plan smaller using community as resources and develop from there.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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