SANFORD (NEWS CENTER Maine)-- Students got their first look at their brand new Sanford High School this morning during the first day of classes there. After two years of construction, the schools opened more than a month behind schedule. At more than one hundred million dollars, the school is the most expensive in Maine's history.
The Sanford Superintendent of schools says the building is more than a decade in the making after from the time the school department applied for the state funding to build it. It's state-of-the-art design was built with safety in mind, with a new fire and lock down system as well as dozens of cameras. Ten percent of the overall cost came from taxpayer money. The school is designed to integrate both vocational education and career driven learning with a technical center and four wings dedicated to specific subjects to give students a clearer idea of what they might choose to study in college. Principal Matt Petermann calls the new Sanford High School a "beacon of hope" for the community.
The old high school will be refurbished into the new middle school, and the old middle school will be redone to become the new elementary school.