RES West Addition Project

   

Rockport classroom serves cocoa to construction crew

ROCKPORT (Dec 23): The construction crew working on the Rockport Elementary School West addition warmed up with some hot chocolate Tuesday afternoon, thanks to the giving spirit of the students at RES West.

The construction crew stands with the third-grade students at Rockport Elementary School West. (Photo by Amy Lea)

Third-grade teacher Fern Campagnoli said the idea to serve the construction crew a warm drink came while students were looking out the classroom window, which faces the construction site, on a chilly day. Third-grader Sarah Contento suggested that it might be nice to offer the construction crew some hot cocoa.

Contento and Campagnoli suggested the idea to Principal Jan Staples, who was supportive of the plan and helped organize the event.

Langford and Low Construction Project Superintendent Nick Conley and Maine School Administrative District 28 Superintendent Patricia Hopkins thanked the students for their thoughtfulness during the event. Conley then took the students on a tour of the new building.

Harrison Homans, left, and Mark Tocco pour some hot cocoa. (Photo by Amy Lea)

Sarah Contento provides the marshmallows. (Photo by Amy Lea)

Students Liam Haining, left, and Mark Tocco offer some hot cocoa to members of the construction crew. (Photo by Amy Lea)

Pictured, from left, are Jacob Lowe, Mark Tocco, Harrison Homans and Liam Haining. (Photo by Amy Lea)

Langford and Low Construction Project Superintendent Nick Conley and Maine School Administrative District Superintendent Patricia Hopkins enjoy a cup of cocoa. (Photo by Amy Lea)

BUS LOOP

CAFE 

EXTERIOR

MAIN LEVEL RADIANT HEATING COILS

RECEIVING, CAFE

EXTERIOR

Education 'Thanks everybody': Camden-Rockport digs in for school expansion

ROCKPORT (March 4): With warming temperatures and a March breeze tugging at their yellow hard hats, Camden-Rockport kindergarten to fourth-grade students poured onto the tarmac on Tuesday to help get the groundwork under way for their school expansion.

Maine School Administrative District 28 board member Lynn Johnson has been a primary mover and shaker behind reuniting the kindergarten through four grades back into one facility since the Camden-Rockport school district acquired Rockport Elementary School West from the Children's House Montessori School in 2004. Johnson took the time Tuesday morning to thank everyone in the school and broader community for accomplishing the goal. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

"We truly have a treasure here in Camden and Rockport," said Maine School Administrative District 28 Superintendent Pat Hopkins, thanking the community, teachers, town and school officials for making the project possible.

Rockport resident Phil Higgins addressed the crowd and told the students, some of whom arrived by bus from Rockport Elementary School East and Camden-Rockport Middle School, that "you students are the first."

Third- and fourth-grade students thank the taxpayers. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

Someday, he told them, "some of you will bring your children here to this school."

"You need a place to go to school," he said. "You are the most important people in this project."

Higgins also thanked the teachers, telling them that besides being accomplished educators, "you have always cared for our children."

This future student, Drew Butchart of Rockport, is happy to be at the groundbreaking ceremony at Rockport Elementary School West. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

The quiet man in the background who could be considered as ultimately responsible for all that took place at the groundbreaking Tuesday morning is Rockport Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Stuart Finkelstein, who founded the Children's House Montessori School decades ago in Camden. In 1997, he and others built a new Montessori School on Route 90, which was sold to Maine School Administrative District 28 in 2004 and is now being expanded as Camden-Rockport's public kindergarten to fourth-grade school. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

In December, the SAD 28 School Board hired Portland construction company Langford and Low for $11.9 million to complete the 60,000-square-foot expansion to the existing RES West building, which was originally constructed in 1997 as the Children's House Montessori School.

SAD 28 purchased the school in 2004 for $2.6 million from the Montessori School following the discovery of mold in a wing of RES East. Kindergarten was subsequently shuffled to the seventh-grade wing of the Camden-Rockport Middle School, while grades three and four moved into RES West.

The Elm Street School in Camden was then leased to the Montessori School, where it remains.

The expansion will allow SAD 28 to once again house its kindergarten to fourth grades in one building. Currently, grades one and two remain at RES East, three and four are at RES West, and kindergarten still occupies classrooms in the seventh-grade wing on Knowlton Street.

The total project cost is $14.5 million, plus interest, and is shouldered entirely by Camden and Rockport taxpayers, with no help from the state of Maine.

Because construction bids arrived higher than expected, the school board's building committee has been cutting project costs; to date, approximately $450,000.

Students break ground with golden shovels. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

Maine School Administrative District 28 Superintendent Pat Hopkins tells the community, "We truly have a treasure here in Camden and Rockport," and thanks school officials, teachers and community members. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

Rockport officials join Rockport Elementary School Principal Jan Staples and Superintendent Pat Hopkins for Tuesday's event. Behind them, from left, are Rockport Planning and Community Development Director Tom Ford, select board member Tom Murphy, Town Manager Robert Peabody and select board member Alex Arau. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

The sign says it all. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

A crowd of hard-hatted students and community dignitaries gather Tuesday morning to celebrate the groundbreaking for the Rockport Elementary School West expansion. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

VillageSoup/Knox County Times Reporter Lynda Clancy can be reached at 207-236-2496 or by e-mail at lclancy@villagesoup.com.

Good news!  MSAD #28 is pleased to announce that a construction contract was officially signed on Wednesday, November 28, with Langford & Low Construction Company to oversee the addition at Rockport Elementary School's West Campus on Route 90. 

The contract price is $11,903,500, which falls within the District's remaining budgeted amount for the project that was approved by voters in 2006. However, the bids came in much higher than expected, and the contract amount includes the construction contingency.  Accordingly, the District, contractor and architects are looking at value engineering options to reduce costs by more than $500,000 to restore as much of the budgeted contingency as possible. 

Some possible modifications on the table include using less expensive vinyl tile throughout the building, rather than the preferred green? option of linoleum, the use of synthetic flooring rather than hardwood in the gymnasium, and other potential cuts that will require some difficult choices. 

However, in spite of the difficulty, the District is happy to be moving forward. In an email to the School Board and Building Committee, Superintendent Patricia Hopkins stated, The signing of this contract is especially exciting given that it is the culmination of years of hard work for many of us.?  Hopkins went on to thank those who have devoted countless hours toward bringing this project to fruition.

Building Committee Chair Lynn Johnson echoed Hopkins' enthusiasm. I'm really just thrilled that we're finally at this point.?   However, challenges lie directly ahead, as decisions regarding cost savings must be made before Christmas. Value engineering means finding ways to save money on a project that is already very lean,? said Johnson.  We have to make sure any steps we take to economize put the needs of our children first.?

The District has faced many facilities challenges over the years.  The Rockport Elementary School East Campus constructed in 1953 has outlasted its intended lifespan.  Many structural components are beyond repair, and mechanical and electrical systems are in need of replacement.  Overcrowding due to an enrollment surge added to the school's problems, which reached a crisis point in 2004 when a burst pipe led to the discovery of a dangerous strain of mold in the former Kindergarten wing.  The Kindergartners were temporarily moved to Camden-Rockport Middle School, where they remain today. Currently grades K-4 are split between three campuses.

Langford & Low plans a site visit in the next couple of weeks to get the project rolling, and expects to complete the work according to the District's timeline.  This means that in the fall of 2009, Camden-Rockport residents will finally see all kindergarten through fourth grade students together under one roof.

For details, please see the minutes of the Special School Board/Building Committee November 26 Meeting.