SABATTUS – With barely a month to go before the start of classes, Sabattus is putting the final pieces together on its estimated $8.2 million school on Ballpark Road.

School Superintendent Paul Malinski said the school will be well beyond what he thinks the town has ever seen before.

“You can’t even compare it to the old school,” he said. “This is going to be a great addition to the community.”

The school will house up to 500 students in third to eighth grades. The building features learning clusters to keep the same grades together and allow them to socialize, Principal Beverly Coursey said.

“This will help add the whole learning experience,” she said. “Each room will also be equipped with three computers. However, seventh- and eighth-graders will each get a laptop to use in the classroom.”

Each classroom is equipped with a sink, and in the lower grades, connecting doors within the rooms have been placed to allow for a friendlier learning community.

Gray and white checkerboard walls outline the large gymnasium featuring six basketball hoops and a hardwood floor. Abutting the gym is the cafeteria, separated by a stage that has retractable walls allowing viewing from both sides.

New features include an acoustic-friendly music room and an art room with its own kiln. “We also have a hands-on room,” she said. “These rooms let the students open doors to new ideas.”

The school also houses three science rooms, a gifted and talented room, and multiple special education rooms with bathroom facilities.

Most school board members agreed that one of Portland-based Stephen Blatt Architects’ best selling points was the concept of having individual restrooms in the classroom areas. Six one-person unisex bathrooms are located on both floors. The board said this will cut back on the gathering and socializing that occurs in restrooms.

A 26-station computer lab adjoining a library classroom off the main library is on the second floor and is designed for mobility. Most of the bookcases are on wheels and can be easily moved to make for meeting space.

“The librarian even has a room for her work,” Coursey said. “This school has something for everyone.”

There is abundant space provided on the 32-acre plot for almost anything, Malinski said. “We do have sufficient space to put on additions or other facilities,” he said. “We are not really limited here.”

On an engineering level, the school is also equipped with something that can only be found in one other school in Maine. Sandy Miller, the clerk of the works and the architect’s representative, said maintenance software downloaded into the school system allows one to see the inside layout of any wall.

“Every wall in the building has been photographed, scanned and entered into the computer with complete dimensions to give a better picture of what is inside the wall structure,” he said.

“For instance if there is a leak on a toilet, one can come to the computer, click on that bathroom, click on that toilet piece and a diagram of that piece will come up.” This can then be e-mailed to a plumber and the proper piece can be purchased without having a specialist come to the site to assess the problem beforehand, he said.

“Think of the time and money that will be saved.”

“The state is looking at our school as a state model,” Coursey said. “And the little bit of money we had extra we put into making the building durable; that is why most of the outside is brick.”

The public will be able to view the new facility during an open house at 3 p.m. Aug. 29. “As one can see there is still a lot to get done,” Malinski said, while looking at part of the unfinished hallway floor. “But we expect to be in just in time.”