New Mt. Ararat High School a world away from old building

Chris Shaw, Director of Facilities and Projects for Maine School Administrative District 75 (at right) leads members of the Building Committee through the new Mt. Ararat High School under construction adjacent to the existing high school Wednesday. (Darcie Moore / The Times Record)

TOPSHAM — The new Mt. Ararat High School will be a stark contrast from the building it is replacing.

The new 153,000-square-foot building is scheduled to open in the fall of 2020, when the current Mt. Ararat High School will be demolished to make way for an athletic field. The entire $60.7 million project is slated to wrap up by the fall of 2021.

As of Wednesday, the project was 60% complete, according to Kathryn Kahill of CHA Architecture.

The current high school has an open concept plan popular in the early 1970s. As a result, classrooms are separated by make-shift and partial walls, and many classrooms don’t have doors.

Principal Donna Brunette said it led to a distracting environment for teachers and students.

“This building has had structural problems from the very first day … and there has been remediation work done in the building already in terms of structure upgrades to the building,” said Lyndon Keck of CHA Architecture, formerly PDT Architects, while discussing the project with school officials in August 2015.

The new school eschews the open concept, and it’s “Y wing” design allows for more windows and more natural light.

The school will also have a geothermal system, which means it will be easier to heat and cool the building year-round. The current school does have cooling systems, but Brunette said it is expensive to run so usually only operates in the office areas in the summer.

The new building has the capacity for solar power that can augment its geothermal system, which transfers heat to or from the ground, offsetting heating costs.

“We’ll also have a maker space based on STEM-related work,” she said. “So whether it’s the alternative program or science department or someone else doing some work or project with the students that might require them to incorporate math, science, tools or water, the will be this space that people can use for a variety of purposes.”

The new school will have a forum that seats about 250 people with “phenomenal” acoustics and tiered seating.

The new school will also house the district’s alternative education program, which has operated in the district office a half-mile away.

Every classroom will have a Promethean board, an interactive tool and a self-contained computer device mounted on the wall, replacing projectors.

Chris Shaw, the director of facilities and projects for SAD 75, said the new high school is slightly smaller than the current school because it has two gyms instead of three, he said. The main gym has a wood floor and an auxiliary gym has a synthetic floor that can absorb wear and tear from the school’s many sports teams. That will protect the wood floor from damage during spring practices, he said.

The taxpayers agreed to kick in more money to pay for some additional classrooms the state wouldn’t fund, as well as the second gym.

The new athletic field will artificial turf that is more durable than grass. It also means the school can host state competitions.

Overall Brunette said the new school will provide better quality spaces with updated furnishings and updated technology and additional presentation spaces in classrooms. The building has been designed to meet the district’s needs, she said, “including features that speak to best practices in education, like maker spaces, and our learning commons is going to be a phenomenal space with opportunities for individual groups and larger groups to come together for learning situations.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com