ST. AGATHA, Maine – SInce Dr. Levesque Elementary School was lost to a fire in 2021, MSAD 33 school officials sought to build a new PreK-12 facility. Now, the process can start over a year earlier than expected, according to an online update from Superintendent Ben Sirois.
Sirois wrote in an update on the school website that the Maine Department of Education opened applications for major capital school construction projects roughly two years earlier than originally anticipated.
“MSAD 33 will begin the application for replacing both Dr. Levesque Elementary School and WIsdom High School with the hopes of being approved for one comprehensive PreK-12 school,” Sirois wrote.
Once applications are submitted, the Maine Department of Education will create a needs-based priority list and choose projects for funding.
According to the Maine Department of Education website, officials will begin site visits in September and complete the rating process by June of 2025. The department anticipates having a new priority list for projects finished by the end of next year.
Sirois said last year that the department’s new rating cycle was expected to occur between 2025 and 2026. He said the new school would likely take four to five years to build after receiving approval. If approved in 2026, he said the best case scenario would be that the school is finished in 2030. But now the new school could potentially be finished by 2029.
And while Dr. Levesque Elementary School, built in 1964 was deemed a total loss, the fire did not result in any students missing school. The fire displaced 130 students, 10 full-time teachers, and 10 additional staff. These individuals are now all under one roof at Wisdom Middle/High School.
Sirois wrote in an August 22 letter to the Maine board of education that this situation is not sustainable.
“The current building, Wisdom Middle/High School, was not constructed and designed for elementary-aged learners,” Sirois wrote in 2022, “and this has presented some challenges over the past year.”
Applications are due on August 30 of this year.
