POLAND — A preliminary assessment of what it would cost to maintain the three elementary schools in Regional School Unit 16 versus consolidating them into two schools was released to the public Thursday by Assistant Superintendent Amy Hediger. The estimates ranged from $10.03 million to $13.41 million.

In an email to all interested parties, Hediger, who directs the district’s Futures Task Force, said the three cost scenarios will be brought to the RSU 16 board of directors at their Sept. 11 meeting.

According to the information provided by Hediger, scenario one would fund, fix and staff Poland Community School, Minot Consolidated School and Elm Street School in Mechanic Falls with the current configuration. Repair costs would be about $8.33 million, plus $5.08 million to replace all three schools’ heating systems, for a total of $13.41 million.

According to the email, the additional cost to connect the Minot school to three-phase power would be between $450,000 and $750,000. “Not connecting to three-phase power limits heating and venting options to the school,” it stated.

Scenario two would close the Minot school, consolidate it with Elm Street School, and fund, fix and staff Elm Street and Poland Community schools with the current configuration. Repair costs would be about $6.51 million, plus $3.58 million to replace the two schools’ heating systems, for a total of $10.08 million.

Scenario three would close the Minot school, fund, fix and staff Elm Street School for prekindergarten through grade 2, and fund, fix and staff Poland Community School for grades 3 through 6. Repair costs would be about the same as scenario two, or $10.08 million.

Originally the task force considered a fourth scenario to fund, fix and staff Elm Street School for prekindergarten through grade 2; fund, fix and staff Poland Community School for grades 3 and 4, and fund, fix and staff Minot Consolidated School for grades 5 and 6. Hediger said the task force, by consensus, chose to eliminate the fourth scenario from the final report to the school board.

The email also stated that if two-thirds of the board voted to close Minot Consolidated School and Minot voters approved the closure, RSU 16 could collect revenue from leasing the property. It was noted that Minot would have to refuse ownership of the school property for the school district to sell it, however.

The 11-page report is screened with “working document” and is available at the task force’s website: https://www.rsu16.org/about/futures-task-force.

Each scenario features a breakdown of components, such as operational expenses, functional capacity, food services, playground area, transportation, parking, class sizes, Title 1 funding, and staff size.

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