BRUNSWICK

The cost estimate for a new elementary school in Brunswick has risen from an estimated $24 million to about $26.35 million, according to architects working with the school board. The new estimate comes as the school board is shifting attention on renovations to the junior high and Coffin Elementary schools.

The cost increase of the new school is due to a number of factors, including inflation and that the planned buildings may be a “little larger” than previously thought, Lyndon Keck of PDT Architects told the board Wednesday.

“Construction costs are escalating at a rapid rate,” said Keck.

There have been several changes in plans for the school, including moving kindergarten classrooms closer to the planned entrance and drop-off area, said architect Alan Kuniholm. Some tutorial rooms will be replaced by common areas. Playground space has been “maximized” by removing a planned student drop-off loop in the middle of the site.

“We think this is a solid concept,” said Kuniholm, regarding the school’s overall design.

The next stage is to look at the outside of the building and further refine the design.

Board member Rich Ellis suggested a costsavings measure by limiting grades attending the new school to pre-Kindergarten to Grade 1, eliminating the need for a second floor on one of the planned structures.

Board members Brenda Clough and Janet Connors raised safety concerns about traffic and the need for a drop-off area used by parents separate from buses.

The land on which the now-defunct Jordan Acres school sits may, eventually, be home to a new elementary school that would replace Coffin School. However, the board has spent years wrestling with the design of the building and the educational program.

“We’ve worked pretty hard for the last three years,” said Superintendent Paul Perzanoski about planning new facilities. “We’re at a standstill … and the financial situation doesn’t look so hot.”

New school designs may have to wait several months, however, as the board grapples with repairs to the junior high and Coffin schools.

“The focus really does need to be on where our kids are right now, not where we want to have our kids,” said board Chairperson Michele Joyce.

Keck noted that Coffin is poorly built and that the junior high is “poorly laid out.”

During a tour of Coffin School in March, the district’s facilities manager Paul Caron said that that cinderblock building, opened in 1955, is at the end of its useful life.

“It’s a very tired building,” Caron said.

At the time, Coffin School Principal Steve Ciembroniewicz said the school’s continuing functionality was due in large measure to the maintenance staff.

Two kindergartens, and art and music classes take place in modular structures that were built shortly after the building’s construction.

One of the classrooms still has a non-functional fireplace. There are flammable ceiling tiles, flammable casework and no sprinklers in Coffin classrooms. Exterior doors on classrooms serve as secondary means of egress in case of an emergency. The basement has experienced a constant leak from underground steam lines.

Both Coffin and the junior high have asbestos in floors. Some classrooms have installed carpet over the floors as an inexpensive means to block exposure.

“You can keep running those buildings, but there is repair work that has to happen,”

Keck told school board members Wednesday.

Between 60 and 80 school systems apply for state aid annually, but only 10-15 receive funding, according to Keck.

Wednesday’s discussions did not pertain to plans to install new modular buildings at the junior high to house the district’s fifth grade, which will happen in 2015.

jswinconeck@timesrecord.com

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