By Darrell Halen
Correspondent

As students on foot approach Weare Middle School, they have to travel among moving vehicles on the school’s access road.

The school must use its library for classroom space after the discovery of what is possibly mold in a classroom forced the principal to close it.

The lack of showers and locker rooms at the school prevents kids from changing their clothes for gym class. They remain in sweaty clothes during the rest of the day.

These are just a few of the problems plaguing the school and some of the reasons why the Weare School Board hopes voters will approve the construction of a replacement building in March.

“The whole situation is ridden with an embarrassment of issues,” said school board chairman Matthew Thomas earlier this week.

Thomas and his colleagues are expected to decide at their Jan. 27 meeting whether they will seek the construction of a proposed school on 44 acres of town owned land across from Weare’s safety complex or on the 13.3-acre site of the current school.

After a year-long search for land, officials had their hopes set on the larger site. But School Superintendent Christine Tyrie said that after a flier was mailed this month to residents about plans to build the new facility there, officials learned that a septic system could not be placed on the land.

The discovery forced officials to consider the school’s present location as well.

Regardless of where it’s to be built, the proposed school would be 131,000 square feet in size with a capacity of 920 students. School officials are seeking a school that large to handle long-term projected growth in student enrollment.

“The town has grown quite a bit in the past five years and we anticipate more growth,” Thomas said.

Tyrie said that the school board explored alternatives, such as a renovation or reconfiguring grades at schools, before determining that a construction project was the best option.

Arenovation, Thomas said, is not a cost-effective solution. “It didn’t make sense to put money into buildings no one seems to like and are past their use,” he added.

Thomas said the new school’s maximum price tag would be $18,363,400. With the state expected to chip in 30 percent through reimbursement aid, the net cost to taxpayers would be about $12.8 million.

The highest property tax impact over the life of a 20 year bond would be a net increase of $2.57 per $1,000 of assessed valuation during the 2006 and 2007 school year, according to officials. That estimate takes into account the retirement of bonds for building projects at the Center Woods Elementary School and John Stark Regional High School.

The current middle school consists of two buildings: a 31-year-old brick building and a 58-year-old white, wooden structure.

In addition to having only one access road, there are other health and safety problems at the school. There is mold in many classrooms; the wooden building lacks sprinklers and fire walls; there is inadequate ventilation and poor heating; the school is not fully handicap accessible; and there is no single, secure entrance.

Sparks and meltdown of wires have occurred in the past because wiring is overused. The sparking took place in an outlet in the White Building and the melted wires were near the heating system, Tyrie said. Both problems were fixed during the 2003-04 school year, but the electrical system remains inadequate.

Plus, there is asbestos in the school.

“That’s a situation all the parents are concerned with,” Thomas said.

The overcrowded school – there are 606 students working in a school that is designed to ideally hold 477 pupils – has other problems: no equipped science labs; inadequate wiring to support technology; poor acoustics; an undersized library; inadequate space for small-group teaching, testing, conferences and office use; and leaky cafeteria and gym roofs. Principal David Pabst said that inclement weather has sometimes caused students to fall while walking between buildings and makes it difficult to move students in wheelchairs.

The aging, overtaxed electrical system means some outlets are not always working, he said. Papers are stored in the hallway.

“There’s zero places to put things at this point,” Pabst said. If the building project wins the 60 percent majority needed at the polls, the school is expected to open in 2007.

Tyrie said that if the school is to be placed on its current site, the two buildings could be used while the new school is being constructed. They would later be demolished to make room for parking, she said.

Because a minimum of 19.2 buildable acres is required for the proposed school, the school district would receive a waiver from the state to allow officials to place the new building on its current site, Thomas said.

Thomas said delaying a start on the project this year would put off action that is needed to address the health and safety issues. A delayed project, he added, would encounter higher costs due to inflation and likely higher bond interest rates.