Years of inadequate maintenance, a leaking roof and a declining school population have forced the Islesboro school board to re-evaluate the current school building and to determine whether the town will renovate the historic building, build a new school, or even turn the school into a private academy.
Islesboro Central School is housed in the former Atterbury family summer home, built in 1926 and converted to a school in 1954. The picturesque stone building has classrooms with distinctive woodwork and fabulous West Penobscot Bay views. Twenty years ago, the G. H. Kinnicut Center was added containing an all-purpose room.
Now the school building barely meets standard requirements for sufficient exits or sprinkler systems. Room sizes recommended by the state would require about 10,000 square feet more than the school currently provides.
Added to these concerns is an apparently declining enrollment. For the 2006-2007 school year, 85 students enrolled, including 78 from Islesboro and seven mainland magnet students. Next year 81 students will attend. Based on the current island population and the number of children in pre-school, a steady decline is likely. An abrupt change in either direction is possible depending on families moving on or off the island, or deciding to home-school. Such fluctuations are common on islands.
In the fall of 2006 the school board sent 485 surveys to registered local voters, outlining two obvious choices: repair the school or build a new facility, either option costing millions. Survey response was high at 245. Eighty-six favored a new building, 57 recommended retaining the old.
Eighty-nine respondents, the majority, said they did not have enough information to make a choice, so the school board invited public questions and comment at two February meetings. School board chair Catherine Dove Adams opened the Feb. 27 discussion by saying that the committee was exploring solutions that excluded only the option of sending students off island to mainland schools. “We know that if we send our students to schools on the mainland, their parents will move off island, and we are committed to supporting a year-round community,” she said.
Public and teaching staff voiced attachment to the old building, but also a concern for the anticipated costs of renovation or construction of a new building. Teacher Tom Tutor recounted a visit by a teacher from another island. “He said that we are so fortunate to have a building with such character,” Tutor said, “that we ought to do all we can to keep it.”
Others commented on the difficulty and expense of making renovations and operating the school at the same time. A new building, they commented, would solve a lot of problems and it could be built while students continued their education in the old building.
Since the issue has been raised some townspeople proposed turning the school into private academy in order to take advantage of the island location to draw mainland boarding students. ISC presently has a magnet student program. Others proposed developing special programs in marine biology or boatbuilding to increase the number of magnet students. “These suggestions have educational and philosophical implications,” says Ms. Dove Adams, and while the board wished to address facility questions, it was clear that a changing school mission would impact building decisions.
A group of citizens who attended school board and building advisory committee meetings expressed a desire to determine a clear vision for what the school could become. At a March 13 meeting, the school board assigned Superintendent Donald Kanicki to send a letter inviting community participation, and an advisory group, the so-called Vision Committee, began meeting April 26.
On June 12 the school board voted to give the committee the somewhat belated charge to “articulate a vision that will form the basis of a mission statement outlining the future of Islesboro Education.” The board asked the group to report monthly to the school board, and to complete their work by Dec. 3, in time for next year’s budget planning.
Meanwhile facilities management consultant Michael McCormick gave the board a report on the school’s condition and the board subsequently engaged a consulting architect and facility engineer. At least a half-million dollars in first priority repairs and improvements have been identified so far. School board member Rick Rogers pointed out at the June 12 meeting that until a decision is made on the building’s future, it is difficult to determine which projects need to be undertaken first. Board member Michael Boucher asserted that the building needed care in order to preserve its value, no matter what its future is.
Similar discussions at a special town meeting called June 5 to approve the 2008 budget illustrated the dilemma facing the board any time they are faced with appropriating funds for work on the facility. At the June 12 board meeting Custodian Richard Cilley submitted a priority repair list for work to accomplish over the summer recess but that sparked debate again among board members about what to take care of soon and what to delay expenditures on. The board decided to set priorities after it learns what contractors’ estimates will be on the repairs.