BRUNSWICK

The cost to build a new elementary school and repair Brunswick Junior High School stands at just over $33.6 million. The latest figure was released by the Brunswick School Board on Wednesday.

If approved by the town council, the vote that will likely go before voters in June will include some $5.7 million for the junior high and nearly $28 million for the new school.

If the bonding is approved, Lyndon Keck of PDT Architects said the former Jordan Acres school could be demolished by Thanksgiving of next year, making way for new construction in the spring.

Slated to become a pre-K through second grade building, the new school may be about twice the size of the former Jordan Acres Elementary School and will be divided into a “house” system, with two distinct learning communities within the same building.

Panels that appeared toward the roofline in original drawings have been replaced by additional brick and courses of pre-cast concrete banding. Windows were also toned down from the more contemporary designs proposed in earlier drawings.

These changes reflected design concerns by the board, which wanted a more classical look to the new building.

The board also decided the new school should be built with an additional $700,000 geothermal system installed.

Keck said geothermal would be more efficient if the school building were to be in use during the summer.

Given the amount of summer programming Harriet Beecher Stowe school has seen recently, Superintendent Paul Perzanoski said it would be likely the school would be a year-round facility. Because of new proficiency based grading, Perzanoski said schools will likely have to offer some form of remedial instruction during the summer.

Town Councilor Dan Harris spoke during the public commentary phase, saying that although he is willing to spend anything in the name of quality local education, he urged the board to find ways of cutting further costs — questioning the need for pre-K programming, for one.

Harris offered that the town should seek a partnership with Family Focus, which operates a pre-K program at the former Naval Air Station, in order to reducing the need for such a large school.

Kate Kalajainen, the parent of a ninth, fifth and first grader in the Brunswick school system, said she has experienced the full range of schools the town has to offer.

Kalajainen voiced her support for the two, smaller learning community model proposed for the new school.

“I can say unequivocally that the smaller learning communities which exist right now in the junior high and Coffin, make a huge, huge, huge difference,” Kalajainen said.

Maggie Jansen said she grew up in Brunswick, attending Longfellow Elementary.

Linking her statement to the small learning community model, Jansen said she lived in a time when the town had four small elementary schools with two classes per grade.

“It’s hard to sit here and kind of remember what I had and not feel sad for my son,” Jansen said.

Jansen said the school board should keep the days of smaller schools in mind when configuring the new elementary school.

An official school board vote on the designs and price tag will occur Nov. 9, followed by a presentation to the town council on Dec. 5.