RSU 39 forums helpful
Lyndon Keck, an AIA and LEED-accredited architect with PDT, gave a 20-minute slide show presentation explaining the benefits of a new school, why it should be built, and a rough timeline detailing the scale of the project. Keck, along with Superintendent Timothy Doak of RSU 39, then answered audience questions.
Keck presented a new test-fit sketch for the facility, based on feedback he received during his presentation to the Caribou City Council.
“Two of the City Council members said ‘What if Teague Park moved across the street?,’” Keck explained. “I thought it was a brilliant suggestion. That whole area could be RSU 39 land and the kids would never have to cross Bennett Drive. They could always go to fields and playgrounds without leaving that piece of land.”
This suggestion resulted in a “Site 2” sketch shown at all three presentations. Keck then explained how the “Site 3” sketch quickly followed.
“My business partner realized,” continued Keck, “that once we have all of that land, we don’t have to keep the school building squished off to the side. It was a real ‘a-ha’ moment for us, because we realized that if we build the school here, we can keep the students going to school during the new building construction, and then do demolition once the kids have moved in.”
Keck asked the Caribou audience, by show of hands, how many felt the Site 3 sketch was a bad idea and roughly four or five people raised their hands. Yet over half of the audience raised their hands when asked if they support Site 3.
“Teague Park was built in the ‘60s,” said Keck, “and Hilltop was built in the late ‘60s or early ‘70s, and the Middle School was built 89 years ago. What the state has decided, since all of these buildings are very old and poorly insulated, is that the best thing for RSU 39 would be to make this a consolidated project for a PK-8 facility and to close the other three schools.”
Keck pulled up a slide detailing the results of a study delineating the energy costs of the three existing schools and Learning Center alongside the potential energy usage of the new school building. According to the study, it costs $1.87 per square foot for Hilltop, $1.36 per square foot for Teague Park, $1.90 per square foot for Caribou Middle School, and $2.27 per square foot for the Learning Center. Respectively, the annual energy costs for these four buildings are $56,043, $44,886, $83,326, and $62,440.
However, the energy cost intensity for the new Caribou school would only be $0.60 per square foot, bringing the yearly cost to $72,000. There is a $174,697 yearly savings when taking the combined energy price of $246,697 for Hilltop, Teague Park, the Learning Center, and Caribou Middle School into consideration.
“If this building is built, it is our expectation that it is going to be one of the best, well-insulated schools in the state of Maine,” said Keck. “The number one thing you can do when building new public buildings today is to make sure the building envelope is the best, well-insulated envelope you can possibly have. You can always add enhancements like wind power, or geothermal later, but it starts with the envelope.”
RSU 39 member Clifford Rhome asked Keck about this project’s tax impact on the towns of Limestone, Stockholm, and Caribou.
“If you design a project that is entirely approved by the State Board of Education, there should be no impact on your taxes,” said Keck. “There would be an impact on taxes if the project adds things the department says they will not pay for. So if the building committee and the RSU board said they thought it made sense to add a Superintendent’s office, a hockey rink, or swimming pool, the Department of Education would not finance that, so it would have to paid by 100% local taxes shared by Limestone, Caribou, and Stockholm.”
“One way I look at this,” said Doak, “is that you’ve all been paying taxes for years in the state of Maine. You have an opportunity now to get your taxes back with a brand new school that the state is willing to pay for.”
“The community has an obligation,” said RSU 39 member Ron Willey, “it’s called a social contract, and it’s to teach children how to swim for their own well-being and safety. I would be willing to bring my grandkids to Limestone if we could organize swimming lessons.”
Crowd reactions were generally positive during these presentations, with few dissenting voices. A few individuals at the Caribou proposal felt that Teague Park was a poor location for a new facility, as the public would not be able to use the park during school hours. One audience member suggested building the PK-8 facility near Caribou High School and using the Teague Park area for new businesses.
“What’s this project’s scope?” asked an audience member. “What are we talking about for dollars?”
“It will be many millions of dollars,” said Keck. “Tens of millions of dollars. I can tell you that. If you want an idea, go to the department website, click the facilities link, and they have listed all the schools they have paid for in the past 25 years. You can find a school that’s roughly this size of this one and you might get a good idea.
“So why don’t I want to give you a number tonight? The honest answer is that I haven’t designed the building and I haven’t done any cost assessments. I really don’t know what the cost is going to be, but you’ll get a good idea if you visit that website.”
“I’m a building contractor,” an audience member explained. “I’ve probably worked on between 25 and 30 school projects from renovations to new construction, from Fort Kent to Searsport, and one thing I’ve always been concerned with is that it seems like one architect is always trying to outdo the next one with spiral staircases, clock towers, skylights, and then finishing a new school and cringing at the thought of future maintenance on the building. I always wonder whatever happened to the basics — you know, square, rectangular roofs that didn’t leak, and so forth. Could we keep in mind that we want to try to keep this simple? A clock tower might buy you another classroom, for example. So let’s not try to outdo all the other schools here.”
“The building committee members are all here,” said Keck. “They probably share your values, based on what I know about them. I think it’s a good comment. No Taj-Mahals.”
“I think it’s a great comment,” said Doak. “I’ve been through a lot of new schools and you’re right, a lot of these places are Taj-Mahals. I want as much classroom and learning space as possible without losing our programs. Bell towers and spiral staircases are not really what we need.”
“As I look around and I see the majority of the population here,” said Caribou Middle School teacher Kim Barnes, “you’re all my age or a little bit older. In the back of my mind, when I think about this new school, I feel like ‘it’s coming back.’ There was a sense of pride growing up in Caribou that I was from Caribou. We were all proud of the athletic teams. We were proud of the people. We were growing.
“I just think if we can keep this in the back of our minds and come to a consensus in a kind way, that this school is a ticket for our community. It’s a ticket for a better place for our children,” she continued. “I want my children to have that same sense of pride that I learned. That’s really important. If we want our kids to stay here, we have to show them we want them here. So even if we can’t agree on everything, I think it’s important that we work together so that our kids have a new school. Bottom line: that’s what’s important. If we want a future for Aroostook County, if we want people to stay and not move away, then we have to focus on showing them that we believe in them and that we care.”
Barnes’ comments elicited an eruption of applause.
Before adjourning, Keck let all attendants know that this is the first of many meetings, and that he is open to considering every bit of positive or negative feedback along the way.
