Meeting Friday, Aug. 8, Future of our Schools Committee (FOSC) reviewed a one-page summary of initial findings of its high school status quo subcommittee which will be submitted to Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor School Committee and Board of Trustees meetings Aug. 12 and 14.  In the document, the status quo group recommends "... a significant renovation and addition..."  to the current high school, or "...building a new high school."    

FOSC members Dan Bryer, Holly Stover and Robert Kahler attended Friday's meeting to review findings and then invited questions from members of the public.

Explaining next steps, Kahler, who is AOS 98 Superintendent, said he would bring information to the meetings this week to ask school committee members and trustees, "Do they want to formally form a FOSC committee?"

The current FOSC is unofficial and volunteer members formed three subcommittees months ago to gather information about three options for the high school, which are:

     Status quo: Tasked with exploring ways to economize if we continue as we have been.

     Tuition: Tasked with exploring sending students to other schools in the area on a tuition basis.

     Consolidation: Tasked with looking at options to consolidate with other area schools in a variety of ways.

Kahler explained that the goal is to talk with the boards to see if they want to formalize some of the options. The one-page summary of findings distributed at the meeting was for only the status quo option.  According to the document, "Continuing to simply patch up items as they fail" was found not to be a viable option due to disruptions in learning and yearly increases in costs.

"It's clearly time to have a discussion about the high school," Kahler said.

Initial numbers provided in the summary show costs for work on the high school, comparing amounts if started in 2024 as opposed to 2026. These were:

                                                                  If started in 2024:             If started in 2026:            

Renovate in place                                            $40,000,000                        $51,000,000

New High School                                              $60,000,000                        $66,000,000

Bryer explained that the reason the FOSC was created was to represent different positions about the high school and its purpose was to provide information to the community. He said the committee was trying to get to the point of a community conversation and then hand it off to the school committee and board.

"If we don't make a decision soon it will be too far gone and the kids will have to go somewhere else," Bryer continued. "Things in the school will fail within the next couple of years. There is urgency but we need consensus to address it. We have to open this up to the public," he said.

Kahler explained that his goal is to talk to the board this week to see if they want to formalize some of the options, adding that there is additional information needed for a decision that the boards need to consider which the FOSC work groups don't know. He added that, "No timeline has been established and it will depend on a number of factors."

Questions and comments from members of the public attending the meeting were about creating a sense of urgency for the decision and generating interest among the public.

"We're trying to gather the data and bring it back to the community so everyone can make an informed decision," Stover said.

Committee members did not set a day or time for their next meeting which is expected to be in September.