Buxton residents will be among those in School Administrative District 6 towns who will be asked May 22 whether they want to borrow $26.7 million for a new elementary school and $1.3 million for a gym and fitness room.
SAD 6 Superintendent Suzanne Lukas said the state would pay for 99.5 percent of the new school and 95 percent of the expanded gym, if voters opted for it.
Lukas said the state would pay for only a basic elementary school gym and not for bleachers and a basketball court. The expanded gym would seat the student body, staff and teachers. Lukas said the local share of the price tag among the five SAD 6 towns would be $130,510, which includes purchase of additional land and paying an owner’s representative to oversee construction.
The total cost of the new school with the expanded gym is $28,079,641. The Maine Department of Education would require the school district to use a $120,000 grant to reduce cost of the project.
The Buxton project is ranked second on a state list of 200 schools vying for state money.
“We have to get our vote in quickly to maintain our position,” Lukas said.
The school would be built next to the S.D. Hanson Frank Jewett schools in Buxton Center. Cindy Hazelton of Buxton, an SAD 6 director, described it as a 21st-century school that would handle a projected Buxton elementary enrollment growth of 30 percent in the next 10 years.
SAD 6 directors have recommended a yes vote.
“Yes on both would be great,” Lukas said, hoping voters approve the new school plus the expanded gym.
The new school would be for pre-kindergarten through Grade 5. It would be built on 22 acres in Buxton Center at the site of the current Hanson-Jewett schools and would include 10 acres now owned by Robert and Joan Weeman and a 2-acre parcel owned by Max Salevsky.
Lukas said the Hanson Jewett schools complex in Buxton Center is on a “tight” lot and more land would be needed to accommodate the new school for 850 students. But 750 students are projected when the building opens in September of 2010.
SAD 6 director Karen Connary of Buxton said the district’s elementary schools in Buxton are aging and now rely on portable classrooms to help house classrooms. “I’m all for it,” Connary said about the proposed school.
Approval of a new school would close the current four elementary schools in Buxton. They are the S.D. Hanson and Frank Jewett schools in Buxton Center; Eliza Libby, Bar Mills and Jack Memorial, West Buxton.
The S.D. Hanson School once served as the town’s high school. Its fate would be uncertain but the other three schools would be slated to other district uses.
Jack Memorial would house the high school alternative education. That program is currently housed in the Hollis Learning Center, which would close. Frank Jewett could house pre-kindergarten in the future.
Eliza Libby could be utilized as workspace for district technology and a variety of other district services, which are now in portable classrooms at Bonny Eagle High School. The high school portables could then be converted to other use.
“It’s a great project for the whole district,” Hazelton said about a new elementary school.
Buxton is ranked second on a state list of 200 schools vying for state money. “We have to get our vote in quickly to maintain our position,” Lukas said.
In addition to Buxton, the towns in SAD 6 are Frye Island, Hollis, Limington and Standish.
Buxton Town Clerk John Myers said polls would be open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at town hall, 185 Portland Road. Myers said absentee ballots are available and residents could register to vote that day.
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