At the December 10, 2024, School Board Meeting, Lisa Sawin of Harriman Architects presented potential design revisions to reduce the total cost of constructing a new middle school. The $94.7 million School Bond Referendum was narrowly defeated by approximately 166 votes at the November 5 election.  

In addition to a menu of potential scope reductions, Sawin discussed a classroom size reduction of 25 sq. ft. per classroom.  The size reduction would not change the number of content classrooms per grade -- which shows 6 per grade.  In addition to reducing costs by approximately $100,000 +/-, the reduction in classroom size seeks to respond to the October 29, 2024, NESDEC Enrollment Report, which shows a 0.7% enrollment decrease (10 students) between the years 2024/25 to 2034/35 for Cape Elizabeth.

The potential scope reductions listed in the graphic below show various ways the School Board may reduce the cost of a new middle school.  The graphic provides totals based on the date of a potential referendum -- March or June of 2025 -- and indicates a 2% increase in costs for a spring referendum and a 4% increase for a June referendum.

* NOTE: The total listed under the June 2025 column is not correct: the tally of all reductions for this column should read $$3,541,286.  

The Town Council will meet with the School Board Thursday, November 12, 2024 at 6 PM for a joint workshop at Town Hall to review. The meeting will be streamed and recorded on CETV LIVE.

The Harriman presenation, meeting materials, and video recording are available here.