HODGDON, Maine — The summer break has been anything but uneventful for the two school buildings in SAD 70 as several renovation projects are under way.
As part of a bond issue approved by voters in the spring, a new elevator system is being installed in the high school. Many of the construction projects are being completed by local contractors, either on a direct basis or as subcontractors, explained SAD 70 Superintendent Scott Richardson.
Several ADA-compliance projects are ongoing. Those projects include putting in lifts for the staging areas at the elementary and high school; upgrading bathrooms at both schools to make them handicapped-accessible; and widening numerous doors and entrances throughout the high school.
As part of the school being transformed into Hodgdon Middle-High School next year, with seventh- and eighth-grade students relocating from Mill Pond School, bathrooms were created so that those students had their own, separate facilities.
“The classrooms for the middle school are all ready,” Richardson said. “The bulk of the summer construction projects have nothing to do with the move.”
Richardson said the space for the seventh- and eighth-graders is “fairly secluded” from the rest of the school, and efforts will be made to limit exposure to high school students. But, he added, there will be times when those students may run into each other because it is impossible to completely segregate the students.
“There is no reason for high-schoolers to be in the middle school space,” Richardson said. “However, there are obviously lots of times during the school day when the seventh- and eighth-graders will be out of that space. It’s impossible, in any school to completely separate them.”
The seventh- and eighth-grade classes represent about 80 students. The younger students will have to travel outside of their classrooms to go to the library, music room or to the gymnasium, he said. A separate lunch period has been created so that the younger students will not be eating at the same time as the high schoolers.
Many of the seventh- and eighth-grade staff members also are making the move from Mill Pond to the high school to aid in the transition.
“We want the high-schoolers to have their own experience, while at the same time allowing the middle schoolers to have theirs,” Richardson said. “We think the seventh and eighth grades will do very well in that environment, and we may even see some improvement in traditional, adolescent behaviors.”
