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Log inScarborough may see second school vote
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Scarborough may see second school vote
by Outspoken on Mon Nov 10, 2008 5:34 am
Scarborough may see second school vote
Another plan to replace Wentworth Intermediate School is expected to go before voters in 2009.
By EDWARD D. MURPHY
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
SCARBOROUGH — Voters might have to decide whether to approve an expensive ballot question a year from now, when a proposal for a new intermediate school – possibly costing more than $40 million – is expected to be put before the town's electorate.
The referendum would be the second town vote on replacing Wentworth Intermediate School, which has about 730 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders. Two years ago, voters turned down, by a 3-2 margin, a proposal to borrow $38.3 million to replace Wentworth, along with a companion renovation project for the middle school that called for borrowing $16.5 million.
Wentworth was built in 1963, and an addition was constructed 12 years later. It is by far the most expensive building in the district to heat, with single-pane windows and an aging heating and ventilating system. There are no sprinklers, its electrical system is outmoded, the town just recently pulled up asbestos floor tiles, and radon gas has built up in maintenance tunnels underneath the school.
The only good news is that the building is so drafty, radon hasn't reached unsafe levels in the classrooms, said David Doyle, Scarborough's school superintendent.
"It's a building that's tired, and we really struggle to make it as efficient and safe as possible," Doyle said. He added that classrooms are too small for modern teaching methods, which favor splitting children into small groups to work on projects. A lack of running water in the classrooms, he said, rules out some science lessons.
"The design of this building was well-suited for educational purposes back in the 1950s," said Anne-Mayre Dexter, Wentworth's principal, but it hasn't kept pace. "We truly aren't preparing children if we aren't offering them the same level of opportunities that other districts are offering, let alone other schools in this district."
Norm Justice, Scarborough's facilities director, said Wentworth is not unlike a decades-old car that the school system is trying to keep on the road.
"We change the oil and replace the spark plugs as best we can," Justice said. "We try to patch this building up but you're still putting a Band-Aid on it."
The Board of Education is expected to appoint a building committee later this month, which will look at a report on renovation versus replacement that town-hired architects have been working on.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=221220&ac=PHnws
Doug Jones/Staff Photographer
Another plan to replace Wentworth Intermediate School is expected to go before voters in 2009.
By EDWARD D. MURPHY
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
SCARBOROUGH — Voters might have to decide whether to approve an expensive ballot question a year from now, when a proposal for a new intermediate school – possibly costing more than $40 million – is expected to be put before the town's electorate.
The referendum would be the second town vote on replacing Wentworth Intermediate School, which has about 730 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders. Two years ago, voters turned down, by a 3-2 margin, a proposal to borrow $38.3 million to replace Wentworth, along with a companion renovation project for the middle school that called for borrowing $16.5 million.
Wentworth was built in 1963, and an addition was constructed 12 years later. It is by far the most expensive building in the district to heat, with single-pane windows and an aging heating and ventilating system. There are no sprinklers, its electrical system is outmoded, the town just recently pulled up asbestos floor tiles, and radon gas has built up in maintenance tunnels underneath the school.
The only good news is that the building is so drafty, radon hasn't reached unsafe levels in the classrooms, said David Doyle, Scarborough's school superintendent.
"It's a building that's tired, and we really struggle to make it as efficient and safe as possible," Doyle said. He added that classrooms are too small for modern teaching methods, which favor splitting children into small groups to work on projects. A lack of running water in the classrooms, he said, rules out some science lessons.
"The design of this building was well-suited for educational purposes back in the 1950s," said Anne-Mayre Dexter, Wentworth's principal, but it hasn't kept pace. "We truly aren't preparing children if we aren't offering them the same level of opportunities that other districts are offering, let alone other schools in this district."
Norm Justice, Scarborough's facilities director, said Wentworth is not unlike a decades-old car that the school system is trying to keep on the road.
"We change the oil and replace the spark plugs as best we can," Justice said. "We try to patch this building up but you're still putting a Band-Aid on it."
The Board of Education is expected to appoint a building committee later this month, which will look at a report on renovation versus replacement that town-hired architects have been working on.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=221220&ac=PHnws
Doug Jones/Staff Photographer
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Plato (427-347 BC)
