Letter to the editor: Support for new schools
Please note: This letter reflects opinions regarding the November 2022 school referendum to construct a new, combined elementary and middle school. It does not represent the current 2024 Cape Elizabeth school proposal.
BY JESSICA G. JOHNSON
As an architect with over 25 years of experience who works in Portland and is involved in commercial and institutional projects, I understand and fully support the process leading up to the proposed design. The selection of Colby Engineering and Simons Architects was made through a formal RFP and interview/selection process. They both have ample representative experience and (award-winning) projects that attest to their ability to design a school building and infrastructure.
The question as to whether to build new elementary and middle schools and renovate the high school in Cape Elizabeth is a contentious one. There are myriad reasons for building new over renovating, even though the cost to build new will be high (in large part due to smaller renovations and band aid fixes as well as escalating construction costs) and will lead to a heavy tax burden for Cape Elizabeth residents. My family and I, not wealthy Cape residents at all, will gladly take on this extra tax burden to give children, not even our own children who will have already graduated, new schools that will support 21st century learning.
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