South Portland High School needs $30 million worth of renovations just to meet health-safety codes and keep mechanical systems operating at the Highland Avenue school, officials warned last week.

Although voters on Nov. 6 defeated a $56 million construction bond for the high school, Assistant Superintendent Steve Bailey said upgrades need to be made on school buildings to comply with regulations for air quality, fire-safety and handicap accessibility.

• The school’s heating and ventilation system also is at the end of its service life and has to be replaced, he said.

• About $6 million worth of work needs to be done to fix water problems that have caused leaks, flooding and mold. This includes a new roof for Beal Gym.

• The school also needs a new storm-water management system to stop flooding and prevent further mold.

The assessment comes in the days since South Portland voters overwhelmingly rejected a major school renovation and expansion project for the city’s only high school.

The borrowing plan, which voters said was too expensive, would have cost the average taxpayer $5,100 over 25 years.

“We’ve gotten away with the fire marshal turning a blind eye on the problems at this school,” said Superintendent Suzanne Godin at a Nov. 8 meeting of the Secondary Schools Facilities Committee. “But this is a building with 1,000 students, and I don’t sleep well at night thinking that something might happen.”

Bailey said later the school’s open stairwells do not meet fire safety code. He referred additional questions to Dave Brochu, who oversees building maintenance. Brochu, however, was unavailable for comment.

The new school building would have had fire-resistant doors and hallways that could be sealed off to prevent the spread of smoke and fire.

Godin advised the facilities committee to increase its membership to better inform the community about the condition of the 1950s high school on Highland Avenue.

“These are significant issues facing the city council and school board,” she said. “We need to broaden the representation on this committee.”

Godin said the group’s first step should be to invite the city council and school board to a joint meeting to outline the issues the school department faces.

She said the school department needs to have a clear understanding of expectations before it decides how to address building problems and whether to pursue a less costly renovation project.

“We need to hear from the community and the city council about what they want for a plan” to update and renovate the high school, Godin said.

Godin said she worries that renovation costs will only rise, as the school building conditions worsen and construction costs increase.

The facilities committee agreed to schedule a forum for Dec. 6 at 6:30 p.m. at a location to be determined. Members said they hope to hear from city councilors and school board members about their ideas for fixing the high school.

City Councilor Ralph Baxter, a facilities committee member, recommended that the forum be held in the City Council Chambers at City Hall. At Current deadline, it was not known whether the room was available.

Godin said the school’s accreditation is at risk, if it does not fix problems with mold and asbestos as well as make the school accessible to students in wheelchairs. The school will be visited in November 2008 by a national accreditation team.

Godin said the school is likely to be issued a warning to fix the problems or risk losing accreditation. She said that it is harder for students who graduate from an unaccredited high school to be accepted at a college.

Baxter agreed with Godin’s statement. As a former school administrator, he said, he once worked at an unaccredited school and recalled how difficult it was for students going on to college.

Dan Cecil, the principal architect for Harriman Associates, relayed to the committee his recent discussions with Maine education officials about applying for construction aid, if a new renovation plan for the high school is developed.

Many voters criticized the facilities committee for not seeking state aid.

But Cecil said that the Department of Education is not accepting applications for school construction aid until 2009.

Budget limitations have kept the department from re-opening the application process since 2004.

Bailey said the facilities committee did not apply for state aid when it developed the $56 million project because it was not available.

“It was not an option for us,” he said. “A new round of applications was not being considered.”

State aid is granted to schools in greatest need of repair, which is determined by a ranking. If a school ranks high on the priority list, it takes two to four years for a project to go out for bid.

Cecil said the earliest South Portland could expect to rebuild its high school with the help of state aid is 2014.

Bailey said that even if South Portland High qualified for state aid, it would not receive a lot. The amount is based on a community’s tax base and financial need.

“South Portland has a low level of need in the state’s view,” he said.

Bailey said the school department has been told not to expect more than 10 percent of construction costs to be covered.

The South Portland School Department already plans to apply for state aid for renovating or consolidating its two middle schools – Mahoney and Memorial. Bailey said the state takes an active involvement in the project’s scope and would have the final say on the type of building plan.

But the facilities committee agreed not to do other work on school building plans until it gets direction from the city council and school board.

“I don’t think this was a vote against education for our kids,” said committee member Ralph Cabana. “People thought they saw a lot of frills here. I heard the term Taj Mahal mentioned. We need to do a much better job at communication.”