MDI High School Trustees Get Updates and Make Decisions

Most About Money, Some About Reorganization

Nov 06, 2024

A quick note: We’ve updated our last election article here to include Mount Desert results. We are waiting on Southwest Harbor’s results for our other election article.

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Andy’s Home Improvement Inc.

BAR HARBOR—School Superintendent Mike Zboray gave an update on the AOS’s Reorganization Planning Committee (RPC) to the MDI High School Board of Trustees at its meeting on Monday, October 28.

Zboray said that since the last trustees’ meeting, he has been going around to all of the schools to give updates to the staff members on where the RPC is in their discussions. He has been to every school except Swans and Cranberry Islands.

Per AOS documents, the committee is part of AOS 91’s effort “to reorganize its current structure from a collection of individual schools into a coherent and more equitable model to better serve our students and educators.”

Stated goals of the process are to form one school system where each student “has equitable access to opportunity and resources,” the document says, as well as create schools that are responsive to changing community demographics and staffing challenges. Two other goals are to have all school staff under a single employer and one budget that would be shared equally and paid for by property tax.

At the most recent RPC meeting, the committee was still talking about the disposition of debt. The bulk of the existing school system debt would be coming from Bar Harbor with the $58 million new school bond. Because the Bar Harbor school, Conners Emerson, is a pre-K through eighth grade school, how the pre-K through eighth grade schools are distributed across the island, if reorganization happens, would play a role in how the debt for the new school bond is distributed. In order to fully decide how the debt distribution would work, the RPC will probably have to shift gears and decide how the schools will be organized should reorganization take place.

Member Lawson Wulsin asked, “Do you know if the total staff population, would shift, will it shrink?”

Zboray said that they weren’t planning on shrinking staff, but there are some retirements that are going to occur. The question, he said, is whether or not to replace positions as people move on.

“We haven’t gone into this thinking that money savings will be through staff reductions,” he said.

Again, Zboray stressed that the pre-K through eighth grade organization model and which model the RPC chooses plays a big role this time in determining student distribution and staffing needs.

Jordan asked if the state sets the standards for voter approval of the reorganization as far as how many towns have to approve it to go into effect or not approve it for it to fail. Zboray said the RPC gets to decide how many towns need to approve reorganization through a ballot vote for it go into effect. The RPC can write into the plan language regarding a core number of towns voting yes and if that number is met, even with a town or towns voting no, then it would still pass. Or it would not pass if the core number of towns did not vote yes and then the whole plan would just go away according to Zboray.

If the reorganization passes, but a town or towns has voted against it and chooses to opt out, then they are still AOS 91 and they have to figure out how to run their school system. The non-joining school(s) would have to find a superintendent and create an administration. However, there would be some funds, such as special education funds or reserve account funds that would have to be given back to the nonparticipating school(s).

The RPC could also decide to make it an all-or-nothing vote where every town must approve it for reorganization to take effect.

During the Bar Harbor School Committee this week, Zboray said that he is hoping for a summer referendum on the RSU.

OFFICERS ELECTED

The board elected its chair and vice chair for the coming year. Chair Rob Jordan was unanimously re-elected and will remain the chair of the board and member Tony Smith was unanimously elected the new vice chair as outgoing Vice Chair Ann Ratcliff said that she could not do the job in a manner that the board deserves due to upcoming changes and responsibilities in her work life.

SCHOOL WASTEWATER SYSTEM

Zboray said Christina Breen, who is a regional representative for Senator Angus King, asked him if the wastewater project financing had moved forward at all. Zboray told her that it was on hold for a little while due to the last response that they got from King’s office stating that the original congressionally directed spending (CDS) application for funding had been turned down.

Breen explained to Zboray that when the original application was submitted, it had been submitted in a very competitive vein of the CDS applications. However, she explained that there may be some other application avenues that are less competitive.

Breen added that once the election is over, she would like to invite her counterparts from Senator Susan Collins’ office and Representative Jared Golden’s office to come and take a look at the project. After viewing the project, they can assist Zboray with resubmitting the application for CDS funding and getting it in a less competitive process.

At the high school, according to Director of Maintenance Scott Watson, the pipe that runs from the septic tank to the first lagoon has been replaced so the old system is functioning much better except for a little odor which is due to the low water levels in the lagoons because of a dry summer.

Watson also said that lagoon number three is still out of use.

TRUSTEES’ UPCOMING PROJECTS UPDATE

High School Principal Matt Haney gave the trustees some updates on expenditures and what the next couple of years look like prior to the upcoming budget preparation for the next fiscal year. The upcoming large budget items are:

Renovation of the school’s science wing": This multimillion dollar project has been put on hold until after the decision has been made to reorganize the school system or not.
High school running track replacement: One of the main reasons for the track replacement is because on the southeast corner, the fence is inches away from the outside lane and should be at least three feet away. The reason for the fence being so close is that there is a steep drop off right on that corner of the track. A large portion of the estimated $3 million cost of the track replacement will be for fill so that the fence can be moved away from the outside lane. This project was originally proposed for this budget year but has been moved back to next year’s budget cycle. The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to authorize the high school staff to prepare and issue an RFQ for design services for the renovation of the track.
Theater HVAC failure and mold remediation: During the summer, the air exchangers that handle the humidity and air exchange in the theater failed to work properly due to a failed compressor. The carpets for the theater were cleaned and the combination of the added humidity from the carpets being cleaned and the fact that nobody knew that the air exchangers were not working created a mold problem in the theater. Penobscot Cleaning remediated the mold issue at a cost of $67,693. All of this cost will be covered by the high school’s insurance except for a $1000 deductible.
Theater HVAC repair or replacement: To repair or replace the air handler for the theater was the question presented to the trustees. Siemens had presented estimates to replace one failed compressor or to replace the entire unit. The estimated price for one compressor was $24,000. The estimated price to replace the entire unit was $350,000-410,000. According to Watson, they know that one compressor is bad, but it may actually be two of the three compressors in the rooftop system. There is also another request for estimated prices out that had not come back by the time of the meeting. The trustees voted unanimously to authorize the high school to spend up to $50,000 to replace compressors but did not specify a vendor due to the fact that the outstanding estimate could be lower than Siemens.
Roof replacements: The high school is getting close to needing some roof replacements and while they are still a few years out, they will be paid for from the minor capital reserve fund.
Wastewater solution: The trustees’ agreed best-case solution to the high school’s wastewater and PFAS issue is to connect with the Somesville wastewater treatment plant. This estimated $10 million project is awaiting the next cycle of CDS applications and the high school is hoping that the federal government will pay for the high school to connect to the Somesville wastewater treatment plant. The current system of septic tank to holding lagoons to spraying discharge on the back field has been mostly rehabilitated but is no solution to limiting further PFAS exposer to the environment.
Purchase of solar array. The school’s rooftop solar array can be purchased next year for $364,500. This will drastically reduce the high school’s electric bills because it will no longer have to pay for the electricity that the array produces. Instead, it will all belong to the school. The purchase money has been accruing in the budget over the last few years and will not result in an increase in the upcoming budget.

FINISHING TENNIS COURTS

The brand-new tennis courts still need some work around the perimeter of the courts to protect them from water and damage due to freezing and thawing cycles if water was able to get under the edges of the new courts. The expanded asphalt skirt will also help keep stones and other debris off the courts.

Watson put out 10 requests for bids to do the work and received no responses from contractors. John Goodwin had given the school an estimate to do the work back on September 3, 2024, and had equipment onsite but has since removed it to perform other work obligations.

The trustees voted unanimously to authorize the high school to spend up to $40,149, which is the total amount of the Goodwin bid, to finish the perimeter of the tennis courts as long as Goodwin can still complete the work this year. The approved motion also included a contingency amount of $4,015.

BOLSTERING TRUSTEES RESERVE ACCOUNT

The board discussed increasing its amount of budget increase each year. For the past few years, the trustees’ budget has been increasing by 3% a year to stay abreast of inflation. The discussion was to start increasing the yearly amount of increase by 1-2% a year until it reaches a healthier yearly increase percentage. The purpose of this increase is to bolster the trustees’ reserve account so that the school can afford to pay for major projects without affecting the actual high school budget.

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for Monday, November 25, at 5:30 p.m., in the high school library.