LEWISTON — Depending on what a student population projection shows, Lewiston may have little choice but to build a big elementary school or ask property taxpayers to spend millions.

That was part of the discussion Wednesday night when the Lewiston School Department’s Redistricting Committee met at Geiger Elementary School.

The Redistricting Committee is charged with recommending what kind of school should replace Martel Elementary, for which the state has agreed to pay.

Maine Department of Education officials recently suggested Lewiston build a school that would accommodate 1,000 to 1,200 students to relieve overcrowding in a city where the student population is growing by 75 to 100 students per year.

Lewiston has 3,200 elementary students, and all six elementary schools have run out of room, Superintendent Bill Webster said.

“Geiger’s full. Montello’s full. McMahon’s full. Martel is full. Farwell’s full. Longley’s full. We need additional classroom space,” he said.

Committee member Tom Shannon said Martel School is No. 8 on the state construction list, and Longley is No. 20. The state would consider replacing Martel with a large school to take care of the city’s needs, Webster said. It would pay for one large construction project but not two.

Using theoretical numbers, Webster said the state may pay for a large, $40 million school for 1,200 students, or a $20 million school for 800 students. But if the city votes for a smaller school, there would be no more state construction money. Improvements to Longley and building more classroom space in the city would have to be covered by Lewiston taxpayers.

“We get a bite of the apple now because we’re high enough up on the list to get some of that state money,” Shannon said. “We can take a small bite or take a big bite.”

If Lewiston builds a school for 800 students — the combined population of Martel and Longley — while the student population grows every year, “we’re going to be full before the school’s built in four years,” Shannon said. “I don’t want to be here four years from now when the new school opens saying every classroom is full. We need to look ahead and be pre-emptive.”

Committee member John Butler asked about Longley’s needs.

It needs heating, ventilation, an improved cafeteria, phone system and additional classroom space, Principal Kristen Clark said.

If Lewiston sold the Martel property on Lisbon Street after the school closed, could all of those projects be done and Longley remain downtown so students can walk to school? Butler asked.

Some of the Martel property sale proceeds could pay for some Longley improvements, but not all, he was told.

Early public reaction to Lewiston building a 1,200-student school indicates residents might not support it, committee member Jodi Wolverton said. “There’s been little community support for that so far. That’s going to be a challenge for us.”

What has to be part of the discussion is how much residents would be asked to pay in the long run, Bruce Damon said.

Damon, a Lewiston Planning Board member, said the student population study will project growth in the next 10 years and will be available in mid-December. The findings will be key in deciding the new school’s size, he said.

One option could be asking the state “to fund 95 percent of a $40 million project,” Damon said. Another could be accepting $20 million of state money for a smaller school. But if the latter happens and taxpayers are asked a year later to pay for $20 million to repair Longley and create more classrooms, there won’t be public support, he said.

“You’ll never be able to do the rest,” Damon said. It was a tough sell convincing Lewiston voters to approve $9.2 million of their own money to renovate Lewiston Middle School, he said.

Redistricting Committee members said a large school could be designed with “pods,” small schools within a big school. A larger school would be designed so class sizes would be smaller, and first- and second-graders would not have recess with fifth- and sixth-graders, Shannon said.

Geiger School parent Renee Courtemanche said parents whose children attend small, rural schools can’t fathom larger schools. She said they ask her how many students attend Geiger. When she answers 700, they seem shocked and ask: “’Are you happy there?’” Courtemanche said she tells them, “We love it. My kids love it.’”

Courtemanche said when Lewiston builds a new school, “we need to be as fiscally responsible as possible.”

bwashuk@sunjournal.com

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