BATH

Members of the Regional School Unit 1 community can take part in a straw poll vote Tuesday to help determine the site location of the new Morse High School.

The new school is tentatively set to open its doors in 2020. RSU 1 is hoping to build the school on the Wing Farm business park that straddles the city of Bath and the town of West Bath. Though the vote will be unofficial, the results will be considered when the school board drafts the referendum for the new school later this year.

That referendum may be held as early as September, and will decide whether the district moves forward with construction.

The straw poll will begin with a presentation led by Ron Lamarre of Lavallee Brensinger Architects, lead architect on the Morse High School project. Lamarre, along with other project and school board members, will provide a brief history of other sites that were considered and explain why they believe Wing Farm is the best site for the school. They will also discuss possible foundation layouts, job costs and acreage, as well as how much of the job will need to be funded locally.

“To me it’s about coming up with one option, which is Wing Farm,” said Superintendent Patrick Manuel. “We’ve done a lot of work to get to this point, and we feel like Wing Farm is the best site. The purpose of the straw poll is to hear from the community and get results from them.”

Manuel stressed the straw poll will be focused on the site only, and not the school’s design.

“We’ve had a site selection committee that is made up of community members, and that has been very helpful,” said Manuel. “That’s the kind of community involvement we’ve had with this project from the get-go.”

After the straw poll, the next step will be a presentation to the State Board of Education in May before a referendum is drafted.

RSU 1’s straw poll presentation and vote will take place at Bath Middle School on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

bgoodridge@timesrecord.com

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