FREEPORT – To build or not to build? That is the $16.9 million question facing Regional School Unit 5 residents June 11, when they will vote on whether to approve plans to renovate Freeport High School, which was built in 1961, as well as add a number of new classrooms and an outdoor track and athletic field.
If approved, a 31,000-square-foot addition would be constructed to replace the industrial arts building on the northwest side of the school. The renovations would be designed to absorb any potential population growth and allow the school to build a third story in the future.
The new athletic complex, which would be built behind the high school, would have an eight-lane track as well as competition and practice spaces for discus, high jump, javelin, long jump, pole vault and shot put. The track and athletic fields also would be open to use by residents of Freeport, Pownal and Durham.
The $16.9 million price tag of the expansion would be funded entirely by the RSU 5 towns and paid for by a 20-year bond. The cost would be shared per the funding formula that the RSU uses for determining its budget, meaning that Freeport would be responsible for almost 66 percent of the cost, Durham, which rejected a proposal to pull out of the RSU in 2012, would pay 21 percent, and Pownal would have a share of about 13 percent.
RSU 5 Finance Director Kelly Wentworth said for each $1,000 paid in taxes, residents should expect an increase of $73 in Durham, $47 in Freeport and $72 in Pownal. The figures, said Wentworth, are based on an initial $1.5 million payment in the next tax year should the voters approve the expansion. Wentworth cautioned that the costs would adjust as the process continues and the project goes out to bid for proposals from contractors.
According to Freeport High Principal Bob Strong, the issue comes down to space and having room for faculty members and students. High school enrollment is projected to increase from 540 students to more than 650 in the next 10 years, said Strong.
“Enrollment has grown to a point where we can’t offer the programs we think will help our students move on to the next level,” said Strong. “Ultimately, it’s the respect for and the responsibility to our students. We’re packed in here.”
During a tour of the high school on May 9, Strong, along with Freeport Renovation Advisory Committee members Michelle Broderick and Kim Lamarre, pointed out numerous classrooms that were serving dual roles, including one that housed the central computer server for the district.
“We have one administrator currently working out of a copy room,” said Strong during the tour. “My office is more of a passageway into the athletic director’s office. We want to have everything centralized. The only conference room is in the main office area, where we also do attendance. Parents come and drop things off, there are messages, UPS drops off packages, students coming back from vocational school have to sign in and out there, and we handle behavioral issues with students. It’s a very small catch-all.”
The new athletic fields will not only provide modern facilities, but also save money, because events have had to be moved to other fields, said Strong.
“It’s a matter of cost and convenience,” said Strong. “We also have seniors competing in their final school events that have to go elsewhere than here. There’s no home-field advantage.”
During a RSU 5 board meeting Jan. 23, students at Freeport High spoke in favor of the expansion, specifically the creation of new athletic fields.
“We’ve had 22 canceled or postponed games in the past two years due to the field conditions. This is far too many,” sophomore Harry Stivers told the board.
Other students echoed Stivers’ complaints, and suggested the lack of a modern athletic field puts Freeport High at a competitive disadvantage.
“People make jokes about our field,” said Jocelyn Levy. “It affects pride and I think pride is important to help building a program.”
In June 2011, RSU 5 voters in Pownal, Durham and Freeport rejected a $2.9 million bond that would have created an athletic complex at the high school including an artificial turf field, track, lights and bleachers. The high school is one of three in Class B that does not have its own track and field facility.
“After the athletic fields referendum was not passed in June of 2011, we took a poll,” said Broderick. “People really thought we needed a comprehensive plan and that was really the impetus for getting this facility study and master plan done.”
The issue of the athletic fields has been a controversial one to some residents in the district, who have accused RSU 5 of piggybacking the fields into a larger bond.
“I don’t care for it all,” said Brewster Staples of Pownal, who voted against the athletic field referendum in 2011. “It’s having your taxes raised for what I consider a needless project. I’m not anti-education, I just think taxpayers keep having to put out more and more money when there are alternatives. Unfortunately. Durham and Pownal can’t block this at all. ”
Pownal RSU 5 board members Ruth Broene and Kathryn Brown voted against the proposal, citing continued frustrations over the increase in taxes.
Durham resident Donna Church, owner of the Durham Get & Go on Route 196, said the proposed renovations were never discussed when the RSU formed three years ago.
“Freeport said no, no, no. We don’t need renovations. As far as the school falling apart, it wasn’t falling apart when they wanted our kids,” said Church. “We have many people in town who live on fixed incomes, times are tough, and to ask us to pay more in taxes is wrong.”
The project also includes an update to the school’s computer lab, a reconfiguring of the main entrance, a new location for bus drop-off and a new kitchen and food court to replace the cafeteria, which would be converted into a new school library.
The renovation also will make the building compliant with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, said Strong.
In 2003, six additional science classrooms and a performing arts center were added to the school.
The proposed renovation will extend the life of the building roughly 30 years, according to the plan.
During the January board meeting, parents also spoke of overcrowding, especially during lunch, as students are forced to fend for themselves in a small cafeteria.
“This is a great building, but I think it has done its job,” Freeport resident Tom Whalen told the board. “It was built to educate kids of Freeport in 1961, a much different time.”
If approved, construction would likely begin in 2014.
“My kids will not have the benefit of enjoying the renovations, but it’s the pride of the community,” said Broderick.
The entrance to Freeport High School on a recent morning. On June 11, Regional School Unit 5 voters will decide whether to spend $16.9 million on a bond to renovate the school and add a new outdoor track and athletic field.
An artist rendering of a proposed new entrance to Freeport High School as part of a $16.9 million renovation that would also add a number of new classrooms.
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