Should we pay $16 million to get two schools into shape, so we can close a third?

This may be a question Wiscasset taxpayers will have to answer in June if selectmen decide to put the school spending issue before voters.

The three schools once educated over 1,200 students. Like many other towns in Maine, the school population has been dropping steadily in the last two decades, with the number in Wiscasset now at 750, with a continued decline anticipated.

The school committee has been working since last year with architect Stephen Blatt to see how to cut back on spending money on buildings. At a school budget committee meeting last Thursday, March 27, a decision was made to have Blatt make a final presentation of his plans on Tuesday, April 1, giving most residents no advance notice of the presentation.

"We are spending a lot of money on buildings," Superintendent of Schools Jay McIntire said. "We're spending a lot on heat and a lot on maintenance. Every year we wait, we're paying for an extra building."

"This conversation should have taken place five years ago," he said. Budget Committee member Dick Hanson asked why it didn't.

"I don't know," McIntire said. "I wasn't here then. I don't want to criticize what was done in the past, but it seems pretty obvious."

George Green, owner of North of the Border on Route 1, asked how plans to close a school will be factored in with the state mandated school consolidation. McIntire said the present configuration of towns in the proposed Sheepscot Valley RSU (Regional School Unit) which Wiscasset may join is a north-south area, so it's doubtful that towns as far away as Chelsea and Palermo would bus their students to Wiscasset. Green also asked what happens if there is no school consolidation. McIntire said it would not have a big effect.

McIntire was asked why the decision was made to close the middle school. He said state law doesn't allow for Kindergartners and first graders to use stairways in buildings where there are older students. The middle school has classrooms on two levels and the cafeteria is on the basement level.

"There are some other factors in bringing the middle school up to speed," McIntire said.

"We had a team of engineers look at all three schools," Blatt said. Considering what needs must be met for students of various ages, Blatt said the middle school would need a 20,000 square foot addition, and the primary school would need an 11,000 square foot addition.

Despite a long-held belief that the primary school is sinking, Blatt said his engineers could find no evidence of that. One resident said he remembers the town raising a lot of money at one point "to raise it up." The building is about 25 years old.

Blatt said the water problems at the school are caused by inadequate drainage, not in the construction of the building. Engineers recommend installing drainage around the perimeter of the building to draw the water away, he said.

The most significant change to the primary school would be connecting the two front sections of the building with new construction, "filling in the gap," as Blatt phrased it, placing the office directly in front instead of in one of the wings. Entrance to the building now is gained by walking between the two wings into a courtyard, then walking left into the office. A cafeteria would be added to the back of the building so that the gym, which is now used as a cafeteria and gym, would be used full time for physical education classes. An expanded kitchen would be built, and new playground areas would be installed in the front and expanded in the back. Many changes would be made to bring the building up to code, including installing sprinkler systems.

"This will be as good as a new building," Blatt said.

At the high school, an addition is proposed for the left side of the building as you face the front entrance. There are two possible scenarios. The addition could be used either for the seventh and eighth graders, so they could have "their own neighborhood;" or the seventh and eighth graders could be put in the existing wing to the right of the front office, and the math and science classes could be put in the new addition. An optional 200-seat auditorium may be built next to the technical education classrooms.

"Construction costs are less expensive than they were six months ago," Blatt said.

Bob Blagden expressed concern about losing the facilities at the middle school, including the ball fields and tennis courts. Selectman chairman Duane Goud said the ball field and middle school are maintained by the town's recreation department, not the school system. Asked if the town can sell the middle school, Duane said the town attorney researched the deed, and there are no restrictions on it.

Karl Tarbox questioned spending millions of dollars "to move 100 kids." Former school board member and budget committee member Tony True questioned the plan, saying, "'When I was a kid, we went to two schools in Wiscasset, and there were more kids."

Rules and laws have changed, Blatt said, requiring facilities for programs like special education that didn't exist in the past.

With school consolidation still in the picture, True asked, "How will Wiscasset be attractive to other towns if we are $16 million in debt?"

McIntire said the flip side of that is better facilities will attract more students and therefore more tuition money.

"It looks like you're going to vote on this in June," Bladen said.

"The chance of this ever happening is just non-existent," he said.