BRUNSWICK (NEWS CENTER Maine) — Work is underway for a new elementary school in Brunswick.
The $20 million project is being funded entirely by local dollars -- which means Brunswick now joins only a few communities in Maine that have opted to build schools without state funding.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Kate Furbish Elementary School took place in front of a large crowd.
The new school will be home to students in pre-K through second grade. It will be state of the art and designed to hold more than 600 students.
The school will be built at the site of the former Jordan Acres School which closed in 2011 after the Brunswick Naval Air Station shut down and the town was looking at a $4.2 million deficit in funding. On top that, a ceiling beam cracked and engineers deemed the building unsafe. Jordan Acres will be demolished during the new construction process.
Moving those students to another school created some serious capacity issues.
Brunswick Superintendent Paul Perzanoski says "we had no space for certain programs that have changed since the 1960's, such as extensive special ed programs as well as preschool".
The town, wanting to forgo the process of applying for state funds, which can typically take years, put the $28 million bond to a referendum. It was approved by only a couple hundred votes.
Perzanoski says he was "very much relieved, but also looking ahead to what students needs are going to be going into the 21st century, it was necessary from my point of view."
Sharon Costedio, who taught for 16 years at Jordan Acres, couldn't agree more. "The technology coming to this school along, with all the innovation and teaching will be fabulous for my hometown."
Kira Reed brought her two children, Kirk and Kennedy, to the groundbreaking ceremony. Kira was once a student at Jordan Acres and while she's sad her kids won't be able to go to Jordan Acres, she's excited they'll have a brand new school to attend. She says she wouldn't have missed the groundbreaking. "It's important to keep being a part of this community here, so we wanted to come and support the new school."
The school name of Kate Furbish Elementary School was chosen in honor of a Victorian-era resident known for her paintings and drawings of Maine flora. The Brunswick school district has a tradition of naming schools after artists, writers and poets.