ROCKLAND — Architects tasked with helping the Region 8 Midcoast School of Technology envision its future will present their ideas this evening, Feb. 25, at a school board meeting in Rockland. Recommendations include building a new school on the same property as the existing school. The public is encouraged to attend this important meeting. 

 “Educationally, the facility does not support 21st-Century learning and teaching,” said Lavallee Brensinger Architects, in a report that is to be delivered to the full Region 8 MCST board of directors. “The physical spaces provide poorly defined areas for program delivery.”

Citing issues of environment, comfort, acoustics and lighting, the report said: “For these reasons, we believe building a new building on the same site will be the most cost-effective solution and allow for the most advantageous response to creating a flexible and adaptable 21st Century educational environment designed to sustain itself for future decades.”

They included a rough estimate with the proposed project of $25 million.

“Assuming a maximum size of 90,000 square-feet of new construction at the current state average for Total Project Cost of $285 per square-foot, the probable cost for a new facility is in the range of $25,500,000 as many factors will be involved in determining a final projected cost,” the report said. 

The Midcoast School of Technology (MCST) visioning process began last winter when the board and its Visioning Committee entered into a $80,000 contract with Lavallee Brensinger. The architectural and planning firm is based in Manchester, N.H., and Cambridge, Massachusetts. The board and the architects agreed the report would be ready by January, and now, with it in hand, the MCST is to talk about how best to move forward.

Should MCST, which educates high school students from a wide geographical area that stretches from Friendship to Washington to Lincolnville, and out to to North Haven and Matinicus, consider building a new school, either at is current location or somewhere else?

Does its programs adequately address the economic needs of the region?

Do the regional sending school districts still all agree on what a career and technology school should look like, and how it should be structured?

Architects have concluded from conversations with stakeholders that: “the largest obstacle that negatively impacts the learning currently taking place is the physical facility. Faculty and staff are making great connections with current students, who are achieving a high level of success; however, the existing facility is limiting what can be achieved within the school.”

MCST is one of Maine’s 27 career and technology schools whose purpose is to provide technical skills that prepares students “for post-secondary education and entry into an ever-changing workplace and society and meet the rigorous academic standards of Maine's Learning Results,” according to the Maine Administrators of Career and Technical Education, the nonprofit that ties together the schools in Maine.

There are currently approximately 7,980 Maine students taking CTE classes in regions and centers. Taxpayers fund their respective portions of supporting MSCT through their annual education spending approved at June town meeting. Other CTE funding derives from state education funding and federal grants.

Board members guiding MCST come from area school boards.

The Feb. 25 meeting, which begins at 7 p.m., and which is preceded two hours earlier by three subcommittee meetings, promises to be a long one. Besides talking about the Visioning Committee report and recommendations, and hearing from the architect, the Region 8 board will also consider its 2015-2016 budget.

That discussion includes how much each sending school district — and its taxpayers — may be paying for the upcoming year to fund the proposed $3 million operating budget.