/

MSAD 58 board discusses aging schools, next steps

3 mins read
The school board discussed some of the district's aging buildings at Thursday's board meeting.
The school board discussed some of the district’s aging buildings at Thursday’s board meeting.

PHILLIPS – The MSAD 58 school board met Thursday night at the Phillips Elementary School to continue a discussion about the district’s aging buildings and the steps needed to bring them in line with safety standards.

Superintendent Susan Pratt presented the option of applying for a predominantly state-funded program to build a new high school. The district’s Mt. Abram High School in Salem Township is currently a 47-year-old building. Most schools are built with a life expectancy of 50 years.

The district recently hired an architect to assess the needs of each of its four buildings: Kingfield Elementary, Phillips Elementary, Strong Elementary and Mt. Abram High School. Phillips Elementary School was deemed a high priority project based on the state’s standards. The elevator needs to be brought up to safety regulations, as well as some other fixes such as sinks, doors and handles and signage around the building. The renovations would cost approximately $631,529.

However, the district’s high school building was determined to require an extremely large amount of attention. A suggestion was made to apply for the state’s rebuilding program.

Pratt said the application has been considered in the past, but the school community has always been wary of making a move, in part due to concerns about district consolidation.

“I’m really just searching to see if this is something we want to look into or not,” Pratt said to the board.

If the district went ahead with the project, it could be up to a five-year endeavor, from the start of the application to the completion of construction. The superintendent pointed out that at the end of this year the district will make its final payment towards the Strong Elementary school. That would provide a potentially opportune time to apply for the construction of a new school.

“When you fix up an old house, it’s still an old house,” Pratt said. “We take a risk every day that we don’t address these issues.”

If the district decides not to go ahead with the application, funds would have to be borrowed to make the necessary repairs at the high school–a project that could cost $1.2 million dollars.

“I think that it is time for Mt. Abram,” Director Sharon Dudley of Phillips said. “If we go through with this it would give a clear message to the community that we are committed to our high school students. We’ve been using band aids to fix things, but you can only patch for so long.”

A decision was made to move forward with gathering information on the application process and what the project would entail for MSAD 58.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

8 Comments

  1. I would also like to add that I also said that we don’t have to pull out all the stops. We can build something nice that isn’t fancy. Our citizens are already strapped. Although a project of this magnitude would receive substantial funding from the state if approved, we would need to do something within our means. We need to keep this in mind when and IF a proposal is made. It’s important to be fiscally responsible to our citizens while providing an adequate building for our students.

  2. If this happens-
    1) Who is responsible (fiscally) for the old building-removal, heat, maintenance and more? Since the High School is in an unorganized territory…I believe there are costs that would pass on to the taxpayer.
    2) What is the current enrollment at Mt Abram High? Are the trends showing growth in student enrollment?
    3)What is the exact number of Superintendent agreements to outside districts? Is this trend increasing?
    I am hoping this school board thinks bigger than their own children and employment of neighbors.

  3. Why on Earth are we planning buildings with a 50 year life expectancy? For that level of durability we could use modular homes or pre-fab garages. I certainly hope that the millions we are bound to spend on new buildings will leave us with structures that will last longer.

  4. It was not that long ago that we were told the enrollments were decreasing and it might be wise to look at other options…such as closing some buildings, rearranging classes and bussing students to other locations. Now we are considering building a new high school for millions of dollars? The article says the state will fund some of this.. Aren’t the taxpayers of SAD 58 a part of “the state” that will be taxed to pay for this as well as our local taxes which will increase in order for us to pay our local share of the expenses? I would like to see the enrollment trends for the past 4-5 years for all grade levels. While it might be nice to build a new high school, I’m not sure it is practical or even doable. We are not blessed with a multitude of industry/ high paying jobs in this area. Many are already struggling to pay property taxes. We are, apparently, also needing to address needs in all of the elementary schools.. What is the plan to handle all of the needs? Build a new, expensive high school and we STILL have the maintenance problems in each of the 4 elementary schools that remain.

  5. If I owned a home in this school district I would sell it fast. With the low wages in the Western Mountains the majority of people will not be able to afford their property taxes longer. Unfortunately the best thing to do is to dissolve the district. That may sound drastic but it is a realistic possibility.

  6. I am confused. Sharon can you clear up this?
    Phillips is a priority but the plan is to build a new High School. What is the Boards plan for the work that needs to be done to the tune of $600,00 to the Phillips School?
    Kingfield taxpayers must be on edge…

  7. Ballgame: If you own a home in Phillips, you will not sell it quickly. We were told by 2 different realtors that Phillips is a very. very hard sell due to high property taxes..We had a home, updated and move-in ready, for sale in Phillips for over 3 year..and eventually managed to sell it after lowering the price by 25% of it’s appraised value.

  8. Confused,

    Phillips has about $600,000 in renovations to meet ADA requirements and MTA’s priority fixes total $1,200,000. These are all items that would qualify for the renovation fund that the state is taking applications on. MTA has ADA upgrades that need to be made, drafty doors and windows and issues around air quality and ventilation. These are the priority items that need to be fixed ASAP for both Phillips and MTA. There is a list of criteria that each school has to meet to even be considered. Phillips and MTA were the only schools in the district to meet the criteria of this particular renovation program.

    The state just announced that they are opening up applications for new school projects. MTA needs so much more than the items listed for the renovation loan. It was suggested that we may want to look at the possibility of the school replacement because the state funding for these projects are much higher.

    We cannot just get a new high school. It does not work that way. It is a 21 step process. It is not about increasing enrollments, it is about safety of our children and deteriorating buildings. No decisions have been made. It is an exploration. MTA was built to last 50 years. We are in year 47 and there are a lot of repairs that are needed.

    With both of these applications, you can apply but it does not mean that the district will get it. And if a bond is required, the tax payers would have to approve it.

    I hope that helps clarify.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.