The Camden-Rockport School Board agreed November 16 to pursue building a new Camden-Rockport Middle School. The vote supports the recommendation by the Camden-Rockport Middle School’s Building Vision Committee that had unanimous approval November 2. 

The Camden-Rockport Middle School building is aged, failing and does not meet current basic life and safety codes in many areas, according to a press release from the School Administration District 28’s central office. The middle school’s Building Vision Committee was formed to find the best way to address the middle school problems, the release said.

The committee looked at three options: To patch, renovate or build new. To arrive at the best decision, the committee explored the financial and educational impact of each option. Additionally the committee sought expert analysis, met with town select boards, conducted outreach and held public forums to ensure that the voice of the community was heard.

Build New: This option would result in a brand new facility on the Knowlton Street campus. A new facility would be a long term investment in education by creating a space that is energy efficient, appropriately sized (approximately 30 percent smaller), and designed to meet current and future educational programming.

Renovate: This option entails a fairly major renovation of the facility to not only address structural and systems issues, but to also address energy and operational issues and some educational challenges. Some of the current facility would be torn down, but MET would remain.

Patch: The option to patch is the option to "do nothing." The building is old and failing and does not meet basic life safety codes in many areas. This option would address structural issues, life safety, ADA compliance, and deferred maintenance to maintain a building. All existing buildings would remain.

“We found the community overwhelmingly supports the option to build a new middle school,” said Superintendent Maria Libby. “Once people understand the situation we face, they agree that it makes the best sense both financially and educationally. “

In the coming months, SAD 28 will work towards developing a new building design with community input and public participation, the release said.

“Communication is so important,” said Libby, in the release. “We have to make design choices that are best for our students and community, and successfully communicate the reasons for those choices to earn the support of the voting public. We also have an obligation to taxpayers to make economically sound choices. It is crucial to have community involvement throughout the process.”

The board-approved design will be put before Camden-Rockport voters in a November 2017 referendum.