As work continues on a new long-range facilities master plan, the local school district has abandoned the idea of closing the aging Harpswell Community School and will focus on developing a plan to renovate it.
Likewise, Maine School Administrative District 75 will no longer consider the possibility of closing community schools in Bowdoin or Bowdoinham, according to the district’s architectural firm, Harriman, of Auburn.
Lisa Sawin, architect and principal with Harriman, provided an update on the district’s master plan during a public workshop on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham.
Sawin explained that the district initially considered 12 options to address the problem of aging schools and other facilities within MSAD 75. Some of the options included school closures in Harpswell, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham and/or Topsham.
However, the district has since narrowed down the number of options to five, she said, eliminating all that would have left any of the district’s four towns without a single community school.
The remaining variations all pertain to two elementary schools in Topsham: Williams-Cone School and Woodside Elementary School. The options include repairs, renovations or consolidation, including the possibility of closing both and building a new school to serve their combined student populations.
Three public forums took place in fall 2025 at Mt. Ararat High to gather residents’ feedback on the facilities plan. Sawin said the response at those forums was clear.
“There’s a really strong desire to have a school in each community,” she told the school board at the workshop.
Sawin said each of the remaining five options would likely cost between $81.2 million and $120.4 million to implement. State funding assistance may be available, she said, but it’s less likely if the district avoids consolidation.
The district hired Harriman to develop a plan that assesses all school buildings, projects future enrollment and demographics, and gathers public and stakeholder input. The findings will guide future committee and board discussions, as well as possible workshops to help the board reach a consensus.
The district has five elementary schools, one middle school and one high school, in addition to four other facilities for administration and services. Four of the 11 buildings are more than 70 years old. Two — including the Harpswell school — are almost 70.
Harpswell Community School is the town’s only public school. West Harpswell School closed in 2011. A charter school called Harpswell Coastal Academy operated in the former West Harpswell School for 10 years before closing in 2023.
Sawin said the school’s original section, built in 1956, contains five classrooms that don’t comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Additional sections were added in 1960, 1980 and 1996.
Sawin presented data at an October 2025 forum that showed how each existing school rated on a scale from “excellent” to “critical” in several key areas, including ADA and code compliance, safety and security, exterior and interior, heating and ventilation, plumbing, fire protection, and electrical systems.
Harpswell Community School received a “good” rating for its grounds and infrastructure. All of its other ratings were either “fair” or “poor,” plus one “critical” rating for ADA compliance.
Evaluations were similarly poor among most MSAD 75 schools. The exceptions were Bowdoin Central School, built in 1999, and the new Mt. Ararat High School, which was built in 2020 and received high marks in every category.
At Tuesday’s workshop, Harpswell Select Board member Matt Gilley noted the already rising burden on taxpayers and suggested that building a new Harpswell Community School might save money in the long run because it would last longer.
“I’d like to see us do it once in our lifetimes, and not two or three times,” he said about the proposed school upgrade.
Sawin has said it could take several years to implement the long-range facilities plan after it has been finalized. To review the facilities master plan presentations or submit comments, visit link75.org/departments/facilities-grounds.
