SANFORD —  Folks here are being asked to vote in a straw poll Tuesday regarding plans for Sanford’s elementary schools.

Some time ago, the city that it had been awarded Maine Department of Education approval for funding to renovate and expand its elementary schools and to renovate and reuse the current Sanford High School facility as a new grade 5-8 middle school.

“A straw poll indicating initial public support for the project is a required step by the Maine Department of Education for project funding,” said Superintendent David Theoharides.

The informational session begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Sanford Junior High School, with the straw poll set for 7:45 p.m.

The project would see renovations and a large addition to Margaret Chase Smith School, renovations to  the current Sanford High School, transforming it into a grade five through eight middle school and renovations to the current Sanford Junior High School that would become an elementary school.

The plan also calls for the closure of Sanford’s last two remaining small elementary schools — Willard School and Lafayette School.

Theoharides said the project increases safety and security by eliminating all modular classrooms, reduces operations and maintenance costs and provides space for future growth.

If full approvals are received, at the end of the process Sanford would have three pre-K to fourth-grade schools, each with the capacity for 500 students: Margaret Chase Smith; Carl J. Lamb School, which doesn’t require retrofitting; and Central Elementary School, at what is now the Junior High School. It will also have a middle school at the current high school location.

Sanford got word it has been approved for elementary school funding several years ago, when it received the funding award for a new Sanford High School and Technical Center. Once the high school project was underway — it is scheduled to be ready for classes in the fall of 2018 — the School Department and building committee began working on the elementary school plan.

 A second straw poll will be held later this year once the final concept for the project is complete. As well, a formal public referendum for final project acceptance is tentatively scheduled for June.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].