SAD
15 to begin school renovations
By Elizabeth Prata
Gray--In November 2005, the citizens of Gray and New
Gloucester (MASAD #15) voted to pass a 10 million
dollar bond. The bond would help fund the proposed
renovations to all five of the District's fleet o
ageing buildings, the oldest of which is nearly 60.
Amid drafty windows to asbestos, fresh air flow problems,
and leakages, the SAD decided that the most efficient
and cost-effective way to fix all the schools at once
was to ask for a bond.
To that end, the School Board's Facilities Committee
enacted a sub-committee devoted to working through
all the major and minor issues each school had, and
along with help from PDT Architects, developed hundreds
of work-orders. The work-orders were each justified,
sent as a package to the state in the form of a bond
request, and the State approved the repairs as consistent
with the School Revolving Renovation Fund.
When the bond passed in November by a wide margin,
the real work for the District team was to really
begin.
According to Superintendent Victoria Burns, right
now PDT architects are preparing the specifications
for the projects and bids will go out in late spring.
The District dissolved the Facilities Update Renovation
Committee and enacted another: the Building Committee.
The membership for the Building Committee are the
five building Principals, the Superintendent, the
Director of Finance and Operations Terry Towle, Board
member and Facilities Committee Member Peter Pinkerton,
School Board Chair Dr. Alan Rich and Community Members:
Dan Maguire from Gray and Tim Bartlet from New Gloucester.
Additionally membership on the Building Committee
includes Facilities manager or custodial/maintenance
supervisor.
The Construction Team is comprised of the Superintendent,
Dr. of Finance and Operations, Dr. Alan Rich, Jim
Hutchinson of the School Board and the Facilities
Manager.
The Building Committee will meet on at 6 p.m. on January
26 at Dunn School. This will be a general meeting
with an overview of their responsibilities. PDT architects
will also be there to give a general overview of their
duties and the expected next steps.
