CARIBOU, Maine — It’s still unknown whether RSU 39 will receive repairs for its aging schools or a brand new facility, but at least they know who will design the major capital school construction project.
The RSU’s building committee selected PDT Architects of Portland to design and construct the coming improvements, and Superintendent of RSU 39 Susan White expressed her opinion last week that the committee chose wisely.
“One thing we like about them is they’re all about kids; they involve the kids in the process, they want to hear from kids and they want to see where kids are thriving — and what they need to thrive,” White said on Friday.
Following a final interview with the RSU’s building committee on Feb. 13, PDT received a guided tour of Caribou’s facilities, including the three schools most urgently requiring attention — Caribou Middle School, Hilltop Elementary and Teague Park Elementary.
Though Caribou Regional Technology Center’s culinary students prepared an impressive lunch for the RSU and PDT officials, White said the architects were extremely impressed with a different school department: building maintenance.
“They raved about our Facility’s Director, Wayne St. Pierre, and his crew” White said. “They could not believe how well kept these very aging buildings are.”
Many of the area’s great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents received an education at Caribou Middle School, built back in 1926.
The pride St. Pierre’s crew takes in preserving the buildings was certainly noted by the architects, but so was the district’s need for facility age-required upgrades.
“While they respect the work, they also see that we’re in a need of an update in some shape or form,” White commented.
Project leaders with PDT will now work with RSU officials and representatives of the Maine Department of Education to determine whether the region needs a brand new school or improvements to the existing facilities.
“They’re going to evaluate each of the three schools to see if renovation or new construction makes the most sense economically and, of course, educationally,” White explained.
Identifying whether the district needs a new school building or upgrades to existing facilities is step five of a 21-step process that takes years, but PDT and RSU officials are prudently and tentatively keeping the ball rolling by dipping their toes in the next couple steps.
Should the architects determine that a new building is the best option, that building needs to go somewhere and having list of suitable locations will help keep the process moving along smoothly; site selection for that theoretical building is step six.
Following that, compiling and understanding educational specifications, which is more or less demographics about the RSU’s current and future educational needs, is step seven; Assistant Superintendent Lois Brewer has already been tasked with heading up that undertaking.
School buildings span generations of students, and Brewer will be assisted with gathering and interpreting educational trends by leading teachers, staff and students.
“It helps us in a very methodical and thorough way of having an opportunity to look at our needs, look at our wants, and to really do some visioning about what education is going to look like at RSU 39 when the next superintendent is sitting here in 60 years wondering ‘what to do about this building,’” White said with a grin.
Dreaming of what could be for the aging schools is exciting, but White is even more excited about what will be — and each day moves closer to that answer.
There’s still no telling what the future holds for the RSU’s building project, but at least school officials now know who will be designing it.
