Scarborough’s most recent push to address its overcrowded and aging schools is entering its second phase for which a new School Building Advisory Committee will be formed.

The committee will be tasked with reviewing four solutions proposed in Phase 1 and hiring and working with a consultant to vet them. They will eventually deliver a final recommendation to the school board after working on schematic designs, cost analysis and more.

This spring and summer, a committee of over 50 residents drafted four solutions – a new consolidated K-3 school, a fourth primary school with renovations at the others, additions at multiple schools and a new consolidated school for Grades 2-3.

“I think the committee really took a look at what the community was saying they wanted to see in a solution,” school board Chair Shannon Lindstrom said in an interview Wednesday.

She noted the school board’s survey following citizens’ rejection of a new K-3 school and grade restructuring plan last November and praised the committee’s use of that information.

“The top reasons for people who voted ‘no’ had to do with the consolidated school model and the cost of the plan,” Lindstrom said. “The committee really dove into the information that the original building committee had, and they came up with what they thought would be good choices that the community could support.”

The new committee will be tasked with whittling down the four concepts to a final recommendation.

“The plan is to hire a consultant and then vet those four potential solutions so (the) committee comes down to one choice that they recommend to the Town Council and school board,” she said.

Keeping the public engaged throughout this phase will be critical, Lindstrom said.

“Going back to the original building committee and the failed referendum, one of the things we heard was that people in the community didn’t necessarily feel like they were brought along in the process,” she said. “That it felt like suddenly we had a school on the ballot and they were unfamiliar with the process.”

The school board and Town Council are poised to finalize the formation and charges of a new committee next month. Lindstrom said the goal is to have applications available by mid-September.

“From the school board perspective, we are really excited to continue this process and to build on the really good work that was done in Phase 1,” Lindstrom said. “We are really excited to drive toward a solution that the community will support.”