The Bonny Eagle school district, SAD 6, asked the Maine Department of Education at the end of August to fund a project with a possible concept impacting seven of its eight schools.

“We have old, outdated facilities,” Superintendent Clay Gleason said in an interview Monday.

Five elementary schools would be shut down under a concept plan the district developed.

SAD 6 Superintendent Clay Gleason. Robert Lowell / American Journal

Gleason said the project’s concept calls for building a new high school and consolidating five of six elementary schools under one roof at the present middle school. The middle school would relocate to the existing high school. The concept is “One Bonny Eagle,” unifying the district.

The cost in today’s dollars, Gleason said, would be $400 million.

Gleason welcomes participation of parents and residents in the upgrade process.

The plan is aimed at minimizing energy costs, maximizing resources and saving expenses of replacing roofs, boiler systems and other maintenance while providing a modern-day educational experience for students. Gleason said it would more efficiently manage class sizes and staff; as one example, it could reduce the number of elementary school nurses.

“I think it would more efficiently use our staff,” Gleason said. He said the concept could serve the district for 50 years.

Gleason hopes to hear something from the state by February or March.

Scott Brown, director of the school facilities and the Major Capital School Construction Program at the Maine Department of Education, estimated Tuesday it will receive nearly 100 applications from districts around the state asking for financing. Each will be reviewed and sites visited, and he expects a priority list for projects will be developed in about a year.

For Bonny Eagle, it’s a waiting game to see whether it receives funding. Bonny Eagle has a $65 million budget this year and “there will be a cost to do nothing,” Gleason said.

SAD 6 is one of the state’s largest geographic school districts with more than 700 employees. It includes the towns of Buxton, Frye Island, Hollis, Limington and Standish. The district enrollment now is 3,313. Enrollment is down from a peak of about 4,000, but Gleason expects school population to begin an influx in the near future based on the number of housing permits issued in Standish.

Under the realignment concept, the high school would be renovated to house the middle school that, in turn, would be transformed for elementary students in the far-flung district.

Buildings that would close are three Standish schools – Edna Libby, George E. Jack and Steep Falls – along with Hollis School and H.B. Emery Jr. Memorial School in Limington. Buxton Center Elementary School would remain.

The present high school on Saco Road is in Standish and the adjacent middle school is on Sokokis Trail (Route 35) in Buxton. A new high school could be built at the nearby site of the present school bus garage on Bonny Eagle Road in Standish.

The elementary schools, year built, grades and enrollment are:

• Buxton Center, 2013, pre-K through Grade 5, 555;
• Edna Libby, 1980, pre-K to Grade 3, 296;
• George E. Jack, 1951, Grades 4 and 5, 141;
• Emery Memorial, 1951, pre-K through Grade 5, 211;
• Hollis, 1953, pre-K through Grade 5, 273; and
• Steep Falls, 1975, kindergarten through Grade 5, 85.

Gleason said Libby School did not age well and has entrance and exit safety concerns involving traffic flow. The Emery School, he said, is running out of space.

Gleason is a former principal at the Hollis School.

The high school was built in 1975 and renovated in the 1990s. Gleason said the high school with 1,039 students is not overcrowded, but classrooms, the auditorium and weight room for athletes are outdated. High school bathrooms have ADA compliance problems.

The middle school, with Grades 6, 7 and 8, was built in 1962. The current enrollment is 713.

A project could include relocating the central office from Main Street in Buxton to the present high school building in what then would become a unified school campus at the intersection of Route 35 and Saco Road.

The Jewett building in Buxton Center that provides alternative and special education programs would also go away, but the former Jack Memorial building on Parker Farm Road in Buxton houses district technology and would stay.

School buses now travel 5,300 miles daily and Gleason expected busing to be no worse under the concept plan than it is now, with average bus rides the same, or less, and a possibility that some ride times might be reduced.

Gleason said the goal of the concept is about trying to avoid pitting one town against another while providing for every child.

Voters would have to approve the project and Gleason wants to hear public input about the concept. It could be a tough decision for parents wanting their children to attend existing schools, and the project would likely require 100% state funding to make it palatable for voters. The district towns lack industry and the Bonny Eagle community can’t pay, Gleason said, with an eye toward not burdening local taxpayers.

The individual towns are expected to have interest in the buildings that the school district vacates.

Gleason encourages parents and the public to weigh in on the process.

SAD 6 School Board member Don Marean of Hollis, citing board protocol, deferred comment to the board Chair Nathan Carlow of Buxton, who did not respond to an email Tuesday requesting comment by the American Journal’s print deadline Wednesday.

The district’s central office is at 94 Main St., Buxton, and can be reached at 929-3831 or by visiting bonnyeagle.org for names and contact information for the 11-member elected board of directors, representing each of the five towns.