Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Giséle Dionne attended the April 28 meeting of the Maine State Board School Construction Committee. Board member Lisa Bernier also attended, as did Gerard Castonguay via Zoom. The following is a brief summary provided by Assistant Superintendent Dionne:
SAD53, Pittsfield had requested to meet with the BoE so they were first on the agenda. SAD53 is number 8 on a school approval list for construction, which would be the next approved construction project. They are very worried that one or both of the emergency (fire) schools will bump them off the list. They attended in full force, including a prominent member of their community, developer of CIANBRO, now CEO of the company, which is employee owned, and a very big part of the Pittsfield community and three (or four) generations of his family have attended SAD53 schools. They have also donated land for the future new school.
SAD53 superintendent (Sharon Littlefield) and Director of Operations (Sean Knox) spoke as their local representative and another two people. The SAD53 representative(s) questioned why the schools that underwent fires and who are not insured for their own catastrophe at 100% replacement cost.
Chair Fern Desjardins stated there is currently NO funding for projects #9 and beyond as well as the consolidated 9-16 school because they are all beyond the debt ceiling.
Fern had research done over the last 40-43 years about schools that have experienced fires so she could see past practice. The practice was to replace what was damaged or lost in the fire. They stuck to the definition of emergency project.
Comments
Post a Comment