MIDDLEBURY — The upcoming decisions about the long-term future of Addison Central School District’s buildings extend beyond the seven member elementary schools in Bridport, Cornwall, Middlebury, Ripton, Salisbury, Shoreham and Weybridge.
ACSD Board Chairman Peter Conlon warned that taxpayers will also be asked to invest in the Middlebury Union middle and high school buildings.
The timing of that investment has yet to be decided.
Specifically, MUMS needs HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, paving and lighting upgrades as part of $5.8 million in renovations, he said. Meanwhile, MUHS — which hasn’t been improved since the mid-1990s — could use $22.9 million in repairs that would among other things address the building’s HVAC, parking, lighting, windows and sprinkler system, officials said.
“We’ve got a limited capacity,” Conlon told participants at an April 17 facilities master plan forum at MUHS. “Where are our priorities? Should we really be spending a lot of money on our high school? Can we get by with just Band-Aiding it? The same with our middle school, and how does that balance with our elementary school needs?”
Now armed with public feedback, the ACSD board will try to answer those and other facilities questions during the coming months as it drafts a facilities master plan for the next decade and beyond.