LIVERMORE FALLS — The RSU 73 board will host a tour of the former Livermore Falls High School on April 1 to give district residents a chance to see its potential for serving the school system and the community.
The tour is set for 3 to 7 p.m. and will include the gym, which is used for school concerts and middle and high school basketball, a field used by the marching band and the high and middle school sports programs, the shop area, the cafeteria and the adult education space.
Superintendent Robert Wall said a vote a couple of years ago closed the academic wing but not the rest of the building and adjacent field.
Jackie Knight, vice chairwoman of the board, suggested the tour, and many board members immediately agreed.
“This is very exciting,” board member Diane Gould said.
A districtwide vote on the 2014-15 budget and an article asking whether to keep the building open is scheduled for 6 p.m. April 8 at the former Livermore Falls High School.
The cost to keep it open is $138,000, Wall said.
The decisions to provide tours and to hold the April 8 vote at the school came following presentations by Eileen Miazga, director of the Spruce Mountain Adult and Community Education Program, which is housed in the 1967 school, and adult education teacher and college coordinator Michelle Guillaime.
Miazga has been exploring the possibility of offering new courses, such as one in the hospitality industry scheduled to begin in autumn, and transforming the former cafeteria into a conference site, among other possibilities.
The hospitality training program would include a culinary arts component that would fit with the cafeteria kitchen. She said she has also spoken with the managers or owners of two motels in the area that are very interested in the establishment of a conference center.
“We’re asking you to give the building a chance. Within three years, this building could cover some costs, and within five, most of the costs,” Miazga said.
She said she is working to organize an advisory committee that would set fees and manage a significant part of the building.
Wall said improving handicap accessibility is the first task that should be tackled.
Miazga said many organizations such AmeriCorps, which wants to set up a teen center, and the Livermore Falls Downtown Betterment Group are looking at the site.
“Adult Education is the anchor and steward, but this can benefit the students and the community,” Miazga said.
RSU 73 includes the towns of Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls.
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- RSU 73 Adult and Community Education Director Eileen Miazga, right, tells the school board Tuesday night about the programs offered to adult students. The meeting was held at the central office in Livermore Falls.
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- The former Livermore Falls High School will be the scene of tours for RSU 73 residents on April 1. The middle section houses the gym, woodworking shop, cafeteria and other rooms. The academic wing, at left, has been closed for a couple of years.
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