Directors of School Administrative District 61 are hoping for a big turnout next week when they discuss some significant changes proposed for the district’s buildings through the decade and beyond.

“It is our hope that parents, citizens, representatives of the towns’ Boards of Selectmen, town managers, and community members who served on one or more of the previous committees will attend the Jan. 22 special meeting and share their perspectives on the draft plan,” Superintendent Patrick Phillips wrote in a Jan. 6 letter to citizens.

The draft long-range plan for the district recommends, among other things, closing the school that houses adult education programs and converting a third school to office space.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, at the Lake Region High School cafeteria.

According to Phillips’ letter, the proposed 10-year plan calls for the district to return the Bridgton Memorial School to the town, convert Crooked River Elementary School in Casco to office space and space for the adult education program and redistrict elementary school students into three K-5 schools: Songo Locks Elementary School in Naples, Stevens Brook Elementary School in Bridgton and Sebago Elementary School in Sebago. Redistricting would mean redistributing students in Casco, Naples, Bridgton and Sebago across town lines.

Bridgton Memorial School currently houses adult education programs and other social services. Town officials have expressed interest in the building as an economic development project.

The long-range plan also calls for construction of a new transportation and automotive/construction vocational facility and renovating Lake Region High School and Lake Region Vocational Center. Andrew Madura, director of transportation, facilities and food service for SAD 61, has said the main issues with the district’s facilities include a bus garage that is too small and poorly placed in the high school complex and a high school that is overcrowded.

In the 17-20 year plan, Phillips wrote that population projections suggest the district could consolidate all elementary school students into two schools, allowing the district to return Sebago Elementary School to the town.

The current discussion over a long-range facilities plan began several years ago. After the state-mandated consolidation process was passed by the Legislature in June 2007, SAD 61 officials looked into merging with other districts. When they found no cost savings from combining districts, they submitted a plan to remain independent, which was approved by the Maine Department of Education. This plan included recommendations to decrease the number of facilities from nine to five or six by 2010-11.

Changes during this past year, including the closure of the Casco Memorial School and the move of the district’s sixth-graders to the middle school, will save the district $185,000 annually, Phillips wrote. Projected savings from the draft long-term plan come to more than $53 million in operating costs and repairs. Projected costs of facilities improvements total $6.5 million.