Published in the Current and the American Journal
Facing low patient numbers, delays in state reimbursement and heavy competition from nearby nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, the Viking and the Crescent House in Cape Elizabeth have been given to Haven Healthcare Management of Cromwell, Conn.
In late November 2002, Viking and Crescent House co-owner and Administrator Duane Rancourt recognized he needed some help. Rancourt had suffered a heart attack in August, and shortly after a resident of the Viking’s Alzheimer’s unit, Shirley Sayre, wandered off the grounds and died.
At that time, state reimbursements for Medicare were several weeks behind schedule for most healthcare providers, he said. The company went into debt and faced the tough choice of paying creditors or meeting payroll.
The market was also very competitive, Rancourt said. Piper Shores and Chancellor Gardens were attracting more residents, and the Viking and Crescent House were hurt by the publicity about Sayre’s death.
Rancourt went looking for someone to come in as a consultant to improve programs and patient numbers, and eventually take over both operations. “It was a business decision,” Rancourt said.
Rancourt approached Ray Termini, president and CEO of Haven Healthcare, who visited Cape Elizabeth Dec. 26. Rancourt visited several of Haven’s locations in Connecticut New Year’s Eve, and liked what he saw: a “resident-centered operator.”
Termini was interested in acquiring the facility, and the two signed a consulting agreement Jan. 15, which took effect immediately.
Pending state approval of a certificate of need application, Rancourt will stay on as administrator and run things, with Termini acting as a consultant.
Based on electronic records from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Haven facilities in Connecticut and Vermont since 2000 have been repeatedly cited for causing “actual harm” or “immediate jeopardy” to residents, the same category of problems the Viking was cited for in August 2002, after Sayre’s death. Rancourt said he asked about those issues before making the deal. “They may have been attributed to Haven Healthcare, but they didn’t happen under Haven Healthcare’s watch,” he said, explaining that the ones he knew about occurred before Haven took over the facilities.
Changes begin
The name change has already happened in Cape, with a new sign installed in front of the facility last week. Operational changes will happen over the next weeks and months, Rancourt said.
When Termini and Haven Healthcare complete the certificate of need process in three to six months, “we will allow him to acquire us,” Rancourt said.
Haven will assume all debts and liabilities of the Viking and Crescent House.
The transfer is not a purchase, Rancourt said. “Nobody is going to buy it. There’s nobody out there buying nursing homes today.”
Rancourt said he hopes to leave his job in November and will be available as a consultant. “I hope to be able to retire,” he said.
He said he has not yet been served with a lawsuit resulting from Sayre’s death, but is aware that both his insurance company and lawyers for Sayre’s family are investigating the incident.
The Viking was not permitted any new Medicare admissions for three weeks following the incident, but is no longer under any government sanctions and has not been since September.
“All of that negative stuff is behind us,” Rancourt said.
Haven spokesperson, Marissa Hamzy, said the company has nearly 30 facilities throughout New England. Haven Health Center of Cape Elizabeth (the former Viking) and Haven Manor Assisted Living (the former Crescent House) will be the first in Maine.
She said Haven expects to renovate both buildings. The company will add rehabilitation services and a full-service dining room to the nursing home, which may require an addition.
Hamzy said the company does well in the tough nursing-home sector because it is large enough that economies of scale apply.
“We have the ability to have a larger volume,” Hamzy said.
She described Termini as a strong leader and a “visionary” who is “always thinking one step ahead” of developments in the industry.
Wednesday, January 29, 2003
Thursday, January 23, 2003
Retired teacher writes book on true stories at CEHS
Published in the Current
As Cape Elizabeth High School deals with the issues of student drinking and discipline, a new book by a retired CEHS English teacher offers a look inside the drama of everyday high school life.
Sally Martin retired “a few years ago” from CEHS, after 20 years, and still lives off Old Ocean House Road, near the cove that figures prominently in her work of fiction, “The Shape of Dark.”
Based on her experiences in the classroom, and including characters based on real Cape Elizabeth figures and events, the book addresses complex issues of child abuse, infidelity, teen loyalty and underage drinking. The book is self published.
“If only people knew the drama that goes on every day in a high school classroom, they’d be astounded,” Martin said.
She kept personal journals, just as she asked her students to do, and in them recorded not only details of her personal and family life, but also noteworthy incidents from work.
“My journals have really been the foundation,” Martin said.
Much of the conflict in the book is between kids and their parents, and between parents from different families.
It may touch a raw nerve in Cape Elizabeth, where school officials, parents and students have been dealing for months with the issues related to teen alcohol use. It’s not a typical book about high school.
“Most high school dramas are about schools that have clear reasons for turmoil,” Martin said. The town in her book, Cape Mariana, is based on Cape Elizabeth, which appears outwardly to be a pleasant, tranquil place for families to live. The image, she said, is that Cape is immune from problems plaguing larger towns and cities, but that’s not true.
“Kids who are privileged in a community like this,” can carry huge weights of worry and stress, Martin said. “(Feelings) can be much more dangerous because the kids squash them down, or they anesthetize themselves, which they do here,” Martin said.
Part of it is parents, she said. “In an upper-middle-class community, the parents don’t even have time to eat meals with their kids,” Martin said.
This has its cost, and leads to kid-on-kid cruelty, which Martin said is “abetted” by parents’ lack of attention to their children. “The cushion of self-esteem that these kids can fall back on is not there,” she said.
She said she has seen Cape kids change. A few years back, she said, the kids were all friends in school. Even now, when her children, all grown, get together with high school friends, the group is large and inclusive.
“There was never any sort of backstabbing,” Martin said, except for some girls’ “shenanigans,” which were part of the normal growing-up processes.
Now, however, she sees the kids “retreating into themselves.”
“The Shape of Dark,” the first of a planned trilogy, opens the door to a wide range of small-town social dynamics, including teens exploring sexuality, students who resent teachers for having romantic interests in their parents, a doctor who turns a blind eye to child abuse because the abuser is a friend, and parents who bluster and bully to cover up their children’s wrongdoing.
“I’ve been fascinated with the phenomenon of this kind of school system,” Martin said. “This raises a lot of themes I want to explore further.”
She said the book is appropriate for high school students as well as their parents. “One of my goals has always been to make reading accessible,” Martin said. “I think high school kids could really relate to this.”
Her former students certainly do. “The kids have been coming to get the book in droves,” Martin said. “They want to see themselves.”
They may also want to relive – or perhaps not – important moments in their high school careers. “Many things really happened in Cape Elizabeth High School,” Martin said.
That includes students streaking through the cafeteria, and what Martin called “the geeky freshman who got dumped in the trash can” and was rescued by one of the most popular kids in school.
“Essentially, I’ve been working on this for 35 years,” Martin said.
Her feedback so far from readers has indicated that they enjoy the detailed pictures of classroom and school scenes. They also enjoy the pacing. “This is a heavily plotted beach book,” Martin said.
She is already at work on the second book in the trilogy, tentatively titled “A Gathering of Shadow,” which looks at kids’ cruelty to kids and how parents are involved in that dynamic.
“Parents abet cruelty to kids,” Martin said. The subject matter will be more serious and, she said, “darker” than the first book.
The second and third books, she said, will also be set in Cape Mariana, but will have totally different characters and plots. Some characters, like the school principal, may reappear in small roles, she said.
The book is available at Nonesuch Books and Borders in South Portland, and at Longfellow Books in Portland.
She looks forward to the community’s reaction.
“I think people will read this book and say, ‘No town is like this,’” Martin said. “Well, yes it is. This town.”
As Cape Elizabeth High School deals with the issues of student drinking and discipline, a new book by a retired CEHS English teacher offers a look inside the drama of everyday high school life.
Sally Martin retired “a few years ago” from CEHS, after 20 years, and still lives off Old Ocean House Road, near the cove that figures prominently in her work of fiction, “The Shape of Dark.”
Based on her experiences in the classroom, and including characters based on real Cape Elizabeth figures and events, the book addresses complex issues of child abuse, infidelity, teen loyalty and underage drinking. The book is self published.
“If only people knew the drama that goes on every day in a high school classroom, they’d be astounded,” Martin said.
She kept personal journals, just as she asked her students to do, and in them recorded not only details of her personal and family life, but also noteworthy incidents from work.
“My journals have really been the foundation,” Martin said.
Much of the conflict in the book is between kids and their parents, and between parents from different families.
It may touch a raw nerve in Cape Elizabeth, where school officials, parents and students have been dealing for months with the issues related to teen alcohol use. It’s not a typical book about high school.
“Most high school dramas are about schools that have clear reasons for turmoil,” Martin said. The town in her book, Cape Mariana, is based on Cape Elizabeth, which appears outwardly to be a pleasant, tranquil place for families to live. The image, she said, is that Cape is immune from problems plaguing larger towns and cities, but that’s not true.
“Kids who are privileged in a community like this,” can carry huge weights of worry and stress, Martin said. “(Feelings) can be much more dangerous because the kids squash them down, or they anesthetize themselves, which they do here,” Martin said.
Part of it is parents, she said. “In an upper-middle-class community, the parents don’t even have time to eat meals with their kids,” Martin said.
This has its cost, and leads to kid-on-kid cruelty, which Martin said is “abetted” by parents’ lack of attention to their children. “The cushion of self-esteem that these kids can fall back on is not there,” she said.
She said she has seen Cape kids change. A few years back, she said, the kids were all friends in school. Even now, when her children, all grown, get together with high school friends, the group is large and inclusive.
“There was never any sort of backstabbing,” Martin said, except for some girls’ “shenanigans,” which were part of the normal growing-up processes.
Now, however, she sees the kids “retreating into themselves.”
“The Shape of Dark,” the first of a planned trilogy, opens the door to a wide range of small-town social dynamics, including teens exploring sexuality, students who resent teachers for having romantic interests in their parents, a doctor who turns a blind eye to child abuse because the abuser is a friend, and parents who bluster and bully to cover up their children’s wrongdoing.
“I’ve been fascinated with the phenomenon of this kind of school system,” Martin said. “This raises a lot of themes I want to explore further.”
She said the book is appropriate for high school students as well as their parents. “One of my goals has always been to make reading accessible,” Martin said. “I think high school kids could really relate to this.”
Her former students certainly do. “The kids have been coming to get the book in droves,” Martin said. “They want to see themselves.”
They may also want to relive – or perhaps not – important moments in their high school careers. “Many things really happened in Cape Elizabeth High School,” Martin said.
That includes students streaking through the cafeteria, and what Martin called “the geeky freshman who got dumped in the trash can” and was rescued by one of the most popular kids in school.
“Essentially, I’ve been working on this for 35 years,” Martin said.
Her feedback so far from readers has indicated that they enjoy the detailed pictures of classroom and school scenes. They also enjoy the pacing. “This is a heavily plotted beach book,” Martin said.
She is already at work on the second book in the trilogy, tentatively titled “A Gathering of Shadow,” which looks at kids’ cruelty to kids and how parents are involved in that dynamic.
“Parents abet cruelty to kids,” Martin said. The subject matter will be more serious and, she said, “darker” than the first book.
The second and third books, she said, will also be set in Cape Mariana, but will have totally different characters and plots. Some characters, like the school principal, may reappear in small roles, she said.
The book is available at Nonesuch Books and Borders in South Portland, and at Longfellow Books in Portland.
She looks forward to the community’s reaction.
“I think people will read this book and say, ‘No town is like this,’” Martin said. “Well, yes it is. This town.”
Nothing new: Portland cabbie’s world more disturbing than expected in Cult
Published in the Portland Phoenix
If you’ve ever wondered what makes Portland’s cabbies drive the way they do — especially the ones in the beat-up orange ABC Taxi cars — look no further than the Stone Pinhead Ensemble’s musical Cult, written and directed by ABC cabbie J.T. Nichols.
If you’ve ever wondered what makes Portland’s cabbies drive the way they do — especially the ones in the beat-up orange ABC Taxi cars — look no further than the Stone Pinhead Ensemble’s musical Cult, written and directed by ABC cabbie J.T. Nichols.
Even judged by its own standards, it is a disaster. The program clearly states, “if nobody walks out during the production, we have failed.” While a few people got up from their chairs during the January 17 show, everyone who departed returned.
They weren’t scared off by songs mocking government agencies, call-in shows joking about domestic violence, lyrical exaltations of barefoot wives, or the intellectual discourse of conspiracy-theorizing Internet Web sites.
There are two reasons for the play’s failure. First, Cult is the third in a trilogy started in 1993. The only people remaining in the audience for the final installment appeared to be personal friends of the actors, who would not be put off in their enthusiasm for the play’s disjointed and profane commentary on hicks, militia extremism, sadomasochism, and government anti-terrorism.
Some may even have been like-minded cab drivers, aware of no social convention (read: traffic lights or brake pedals) intended to curtail their individual freedom of spectation (read: driving).
Anybody else who might have left this show would have been already put off by the previous efforts. This is for the diehards, and feels more like a celebration of finishing a long project than the beginning of something really subversive. A taxi ride home from an Old Port bar is more likely to prompt a rethink of values and sensitivities than this confused play by this confused man.
Even the sympathetic audience was baffled. After one non-sequitur scene, clearly referring to the fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty” (complete with sleeping man and the word “beauty” spelled out on the rear ends of six dancers), the man next to me — who spent much of the show tapping his feet to the music and even singing along at times — laughed aloud, turned to me and said, “That’s got to be a take-off on something, isn’t it?”
The second reason for the failure is deeper: The entire show is a re-assembly of clichés that have circulated — even in the mainstream of culture — as jokes or anecdotes for years. His mind numbed by empty time and vapid driver-passenger dialogue, Nichols has lost track of what is truly offensive and revolutionary.
In a world in which an artist can get a government grant to throw feces at famous works of art, a few cheap pokes at women who “deserved” their husbands’ beatings seems weak and tired. The real potential to disturb the status quo lies in the possibility of a sharp-minded, lucid cab driver with a rational worldview. Instead, we find the same old thing we expected: A disgruntled cabbie railing against the maelstrom of confused conspiracy storming around him.
The singing, on the other hand, is stellar, and that weakens the show even more. The silky voice of Keith Shortall (playing Reverend Jerusalem Portnoy “Skidder” Ount), normally gracing the airwaves of Maine Public Radio, lends conventional credence to a show trying to be an outcast.
Most members of the cast, in fact, have lovely voices, whether trained or untrained, and are able to sing like hicks, even if they aren’t actually of that persuasion in real life. Hardly Headwood (Bob Way), in particular, is strong and entertaining in both song and speech.
The music is excellent as well, borrowing from big-show styles as diverse as Les Miserables and Oklahoma! and well suited for the oddness of the context, in which Ount opines, “if a man’s got something to say, he should sing it.” Again, the show raises questions about life in a Portland taxi.
Natalie Johnson, playing Pucker Headwood, is adorable and exactly as children are: realistic and stubborn in the face of adult disorientation and lunacy. Charlie Gould’s character Walter, a Lorax with a gift for words, is intelligent and witty, and therefore entirely out of place in this show.
But some of the characters are borrowed from elsewhere, most notably Patricia Kowal’s portrayal of Emily Riding Hood Headwood — a near-perfect imitation of Joan Cusack.
Even the lesbian terrorist group is unoriginal. Besides the storied crusades of “ACT Up!” in the real world, there is a terrorist group made up of another group of social minorities — men in wheelchairs — in David Foster Wallace’s eminently unreadable Infinite Jest.
Nichols’s basic ideas for the show have also clearly come from somewhere else — from other people, other performances, and crazy Web sites the rest of us studiously avoid. Nichols seeks out the lunatic element and portrays it the way it always has been shown: stupid, backwards, uncomprehending, and unworldly. Cult is a tired rehash of stereotypes generated not by Nichols but by something else. If only we knew what . . .
Here’s a clue: On our way home from the show, we actually saw an ABC taxi double-parked outside Video Expo, with its flashers on and no driver inside. Yes, the driver could have been in Joe’s Smoke Shop, it’s true.
Cult
Written and directed by J.T. Nichols. Composed by Charles Brown. With Keith Shortall, Mike Dow, Bob Colby, Bob Way, Patricia Kowal, and Natalie Johnson. Stone Pinhead Ensemble at the St. Lawrence Arts and Community Center, through Feb. 2. Call (207) 775-5568 x1.
Parents split on CEHS alcohol policy
Published in the Current
Some Cape parents are worried that a strict school alcohol policy may be doing more harm than good, while others are supportive of the school’s efforts to battle teen drinking. A recent Cape Elizabeth High School Parents Association meeting became a forum for discussion of the issue.
HSPA Vice President Beth Currier opened the debate by referring to a New Year’s Eve party at Sugarloaf, following which two students were kicked off sports teams for violating their athletic contracts.
Under a contract that athletes must sign, students who report their own violations of the policy are, on the first offense, suspended from a team for two competitions, while those who do not self-report a first offense are off the team for the rest of the season. Second-time offenders are off all teams for the rest of the school year.
Currier questioned the intent and actual effects of the policy on students’ behavior. “Is this policy exactly what we want in place? Is it doing what we want it to do?”
Several parents suggested that kids who made bad choices could use the support of a team environment to improve themselves, rather than being excluded from the team.
One parent said a school-based sports suspension could have large repercussions for a student, if a college scholarship depended on athletics.
“It could ruin their life,” she said. “In children, can’t we give them one or two more chances?”
Joan Moriarty, who works in the high school office and has a son in the sophomore class, agreed. “There are some kids where athletics – that’s it, that’s all they have,” she said. She suggested requiring policy violators to do community service before allowing them back on teams. “I’m not for kicking them off the team entirely,” she said.
Assistant Principal Mark Tinkham, who was at the meeting, said the contract was drawn up by the School Board. “They devised a policy that they felt set the clearest boundary for students,” Tinkham said.
It sends a clear message, he said, that “substance abuse isn’t acceptable.”
Other schools are stricter than Cape, suspending students from teams entirely after a first offense.
One parent said the policy isn’t new, and therefore shouldn’t be as big a concern as it seems to be now. “This is not a surprise to the athletes or the athletes’ families,” she said.
When Currier’s son, who is on the hockey team, re-read the policy recently, “he was shocked at the real details of what it said,” Currier told parents.
Another parent agreed, saying, “I don’t think that many kids really and truly get it,” though a third parent said, “it’s our job to make sure they get it.”
Another parent suggested that kids who are kicked off teams shouldn’t just be let alone. “I think that child needs more than just being taken off a team,” she said.
HSPA president Debbie Croft said playing athletics is a privilege. “You make sacrifices to do that,” she said.
Parents said some kids are making those sacrifices and are following the rules to be allowed to play. Letting rule-breakers play cheapens the commitments of the others, they said.
Tinkham said there has to be a final line that, when crossed, results in strong action. “At what point do you say, ‘enough’s enough?’” he asked.
Currier said parents who support the policy “better be ready to live with your kid losing sports for the whole year.”
But another parent said Cape kids have it easy. “You should (feel) lucky you’re living in Cape Elizabeth,” she said. She has friends in northern Maine whose son was sent to juvenile hall for underage drinking.
“It’s like jail,” she said. “In Cape, the kids skate.”
Tom Meyers, HSPA treasurer, said the policy is a learning opportunity. “Where are they going to learn consequences for their behaviors if we’re going to make excuses for them?” he asked.
Parents were also blamed for their role in the Sugarloaf incident. “Where were the parents?” asked one parent. “They rented the hotel rooms,” another responded.
Some Cape parents are worried that a strict school alcohol policy may be doing more harm than good, while others are supportive of the school’s efforts to battle teen drinking. A recent Cape Elizabeth High School Parents Association meeting became a forum for discussion of the issue.
HSPA Vice President Beth Currier opened the debate by referring to a New Year’s Eve party at Sugarloaf, following which two students were kicked off sports teams for violating their athletic contracts.
Under a contract that athletes must sign, students who report their own violations of the policy are, on the first offense, suspended from a team for two competitions, while those who do not self-report a first offense are off the team for the rest of the season. Second-time offenders are off all teams for the rest of the school year.
Currier questioned the intent and actual effects of the policy on students’ behavior. “Is this policy exactly what we want in place? Is it doing what we want it to do?”
Several parents suggested that kids who made bad choices could use the support of a team environment to improve themselves, rather than being excluded from the team.
One parent said a school-based sports suspension could have large repercussions for a student, if a college scholarship depended on athletics.
“It could ruin their life,” she said. “In children, can’t we give them one or two more chances?”
Joan Moriarty, who works in the high school office and has a son in the sophomore class, agreed. “There are some kids where athletics – that’s it, that’s all they have,” she said. She suggested requiring policy violators to do community service before allowing them back on teams. “I’m not for kicking them off the team entirely,” she said.
Assistant Principal Mark Tinkham, who was at the meeting, said the contract was drawn up by the School Board. “They devised a policy that they felt set the clearest boundary for students,” Tinkham said.
It sends a clear message, he said, that “substance abuse isn’t acceptable.”
Other schools are stricter than Cape, suspending students from teams entirely after a first offense.
One parent said the policy isn’t new, and therefore shouldn’t be as big a concern as it seems to be now. “This is not a surprise to the athletes or the athletes’ families,” she said.
When Currier’s son, who is on the hockey team, re-read the policy recently, “he was shocked at the real details of what it said,” Currier told parents.
Another parent agreed, saying, “I don’t think that many kids really and truly get it,” though a third parent said, “it’s our job to make sure they get it.”
Another parent suggested that kids who are kicked off teams shouldn’t just be let alone. “I think that child needs more than just being taken off a team,” she said.
HSPA president Debbie Croft said playing athletics is a privilege. “You make sacrifices to do that,” she said.
Parents said some kids are making those sacrifices and are following the rules to be allowed to play. Letting rule-breakers play cheapens the commitments of the others, they said.
Tinkham said there has to be a final line that, when crossed, results in strong action. “At what point do you say, ‘enough’s enough?’” he asked.
Currier said parents who support the policy “better be ready to live with your kid losing sports for the whole year.”
But another parent said Cape kids have it easy. “You should (feel) lucky you’re living in Cape Elizabeth,” she said. She has friends in northern Maine whose son was sent to juvenile hall for underage drinking.
“It’s like jail,” she said. “In Cape, the kids skate.”
Tom Meyers, HSPA treasurer, said the policy is a learning opportunity. “Where are they going to learn consequences for their behaviors if we’re going to make excuses for them?” he asked.
Parents were also blamed for their role in the Sugarloaf incident. “Where were the parents?” asked one parent. “They rented the hotel rooms,” another responded.
Councilors review building project
Published in the Current
In their first full look at a $9 million school building project proposal, Cape town councilors were concerned about enrollment projections and parking at the high school.
They did not address possible project delays due to budget constraints. That subject is expected to come up at a Jan. 30 budget workshop between the School Board and the Town Council.
The project is in two parts. The first is a $1.5 million addition to Pond Cove School, to add space to accommodate the kindergarten, now housed at the high school. The one-story addition would include five classrooms, group workrooms, occupational therapy space and a teacher’s room. It would be able to support a future second story.
The second part is a $7.5 million renovation to the high school, including expanding the entrance to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and making the cafeteria larger to seat all students in each of two lunch periods. The renovation would upgrade the building’s electrical, air handling and telecommunications facilities, upgrade the science labs to modern standards, install a new gym floor, replace the locker rooms and reconfigure some teaching and administrative rooms to make more efficient use of space.
School Board Chairman Marie Prager said the high school will need the space now occupied by the kindergarten starting in the fall of 2004.
If the Pond Cove addition is approved this spring, construction will be complete in time for the kindergarten to be at Pond Cove in September 2004.
If not, Prager said, the School Board will need to rent portable classrooms. If the Pond Cove work is approved later than this spring, the portables will be at the high school and will be occupied by high school students until construction is complete.
If the Pond Cove work is not approved at all, Prager said, more expensive kindergarten-ready portables will be installed at Pond Cove for the foreseeable future.
Councilors did not comment on the proposed Pond Cove addition. Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta asked about enrollment projection models for the high school.
Councilor Mary Ann Lynch, who served on the building committee that came up with the proposals, replied that the enrollment models made a few years ago are still being used for planning purposes, but said enrollment changes are not driving the need for the high school renovation.
Councilor Carol Fritz asked about the need for additional parking spaces at the high school. There are just under 560 existing parking spaces near the school complex and the community center, but the high school project will add about 100 more.
Town Manager Mike McGovern said that is because there is such heavy daytime use as well as after-hours activities in the building. When there is more than one evening event at the high school or community center, he said, “the parking is woefully inadequate.”
The School Board will next meet in a planning workshop, Jan. 28, at 7 p.m,. at the high school library. The Town Council and School Board will meet together in a budget workshop Jan. 30, at 6 p.m., at the community center.
In their first full look at a $9 million school building project proposal, Cape town councilors were concerned about enrollment projections and parking at the high school.
They did not address possible project delays due to budget constraints. That subject is expected to come up at a Jan. 30 budget workshop between the School Board and the Town Council.
The project is in two parts. The first is a $1.5 million addition to Pond Cove School, to add space to accommodate the kindergarten, now housed at the high school. The one-story addition would include five classrooms, group workrooms, occupational therapy space and a teacher’s room. It would be able to support a future second story.
The second part is a $7.5 million renovation to the high school, including expanding the entrance to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and making the cafeteria larger to seat all students in each of two lunch periods. The renovation would upgrade the building’s electrical, air handling and telecommunications facilities, upgrade the science labs to modern standards, install a new gym floor, replace the locker rooms and reconfigure some teaching and administrative rooms to make more efficient use of space.
School Board Chairman Marie Prager said the high school will need the space now occupied by the kindergarten starting in the fall of 2004.
If the Pond Cove addition is approved this spring, construction will be complete in time for the kindergarten to be at Pond Cove in September 2004.
If not, Prager said, the School Board will need to rent portable classrooms. If the Pond Cove work is approved later than this spring, the portables will be at the high school and will be occupied by high school students until construction is complete.
If the Pond Cove work is not approved at all, Prager said, more expensive kindergarten-ready portables will be installed at Pond Cove for the foreseeable future.
Councilors did not comment on the proposed Pond Cove addition. Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta asked about enrollment projection models for the high school.
Councilor Mary Ann Lynch, who served on the building committee that came up with the proposals, replied that the enrollment models made a few years ago are still being used for planning purposes, but said enrollment changes are not driving the need for the high school renovation.
Councilor Carol Fritz asked about the need for additional parking spaces at the high school. There are just under 560 existing parking spaces near the school complex and the community center, but the high school project will add about 100 more.
Town Manager Mike McGovern said that is because there is such heavy daytime use as well as after-hours activities in the building. When there is more than one evening event at the high school or community center, he said, “the parking is woefully inadequate.”
The School Board will next meet in a planning workshop, Jan. 28, at 7 p.m,. at the high school library. The Town Council and School Board will meet together in a budget workshop Jan. 30, at 6 p.m., at the community center.
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