By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

Nearly a year after  South Portland residents  overwhelmingly voted against a proposed $56 million school bond to rebuild the high school, the Secondary Schools Facility Committee (SSFC) has begun seeking public input in forming what Assistant Superintendent Steve Bailey called a “smaller, bare bones” approach to revitalize the high school with a series of public hearings that began last month. 

The latest gathering at Kaler Elementary School last week attracted four members of the community — one candidate for school board and another for city council, one current member of the school board and one self-described “concerned taxpayer.” 

“It seems folks who are running for [city council] or the school board are coming out to these to get informed,” Bailey said, adding that he would like to see more interest from common residents in addition to local politicians.

While Bailey said SSFC members would like to increase the number of residents at the Oct. 9 public hearing at Brown Elementary School, the committee is working to lower the cost associated with two new proposals which include a new academic wing, cafeteria, gymnasium, eliminating the current annex building and incorporating “green” design standards into the new floor plan.

“The number one thing people want to know is how long is it going to last and if it will be ‘green,’” school board member Sarah Goldberg said. “Everyone wants something ‘green.’”

The renovations designed by Harriman Associates’ Dan Cecil and Dan Robbins could cost between $30 and $40 million, Bailey said. 

“If we were talking about numbers that started with a one or a two we’d be jumping up and down,” he said.

 Cecil suggested lowering the cost of the project by including some of the renovations in the school department’s annual capital improvement project (CIP) or the maintenance department budget. Although “taking smaller bites over time” could cost more in the long run it could enable the SSFC to present voters with an initial investment that was “easier to stomach” than the original $56 million, he said. 

“The last vote took care of it all at once, which is by far the cheapest way to do it,” Cecil said. 

Other suggestions include staggering construction costs in phases, the first of which could take more than nine months to approve and send to bid and two and half years to complete, at which time a second phase of the construction would need voter approval, Robbins said. 

“Phasing is not a good idea,” School Board member Rick Carter said. “We are kidding ourselves if we think we can go back for [additional funding] in that amount of time.”

 When it comes to gaining community support, school board member and city council candidate Steve Onos encouraged the SSFC to consider constructing a single, standalone building rather than adding onto the existing structure.  

“Taxpayers could understand that,” he said. 

Cecil said creating a separate building for new classrooms and facilities would create a “campus effect” for students, but it made more sense to keep the entire project under the same roof. 

“Less walls exposed to the weather are a good idea,” he said. “There are strong financial, energy and maintenance reasons not to create a separate building.”

Bailey said whatever plan the SSFC decides to endorse, the earliest voters would be asked to approve funding would be in the 2009 general election, however, spurred by the recent attendance rates at their public hearings, the SSFC is considering conducting an exit poll during next month’s general election to “identify if there’s a need and what level of support” the community has in revitalizing the high school.

“There are people out there who think the [SSFC] is just a façade,” school board candidate Kendall Fassett said. “Last time there wasn’t a lot of communication. I believe there [are] things wrong with the old buildings, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. There needs to be more detail available for the public, make it real for people.”

Should the exit poll indicate a majority of the community is against an ongoing project at the high school, Bailey said after four years of meeting twice a week, the SSFC could “get [their] Thursday nights to [themselves].”