Skip to main content
Main Menu Toggle

Superintendent Update on Building Project

Renderings presented at the January 21, 2020 Building Committee Meeting can be found at this LINK

A fundraising campaign for the new building project has been kicked off by Friends of Sumner’s Future, a community group organized to support the construction of our new school.   Although the state of Maine will pay for almost all of the project, they have established guidelines regarding what they will support (financially).  Friends of Sumner’s Future is working diligently to seek private funding to ensure that our students and faculty are afforded a state of the art facility with the most up to date technology, programming, equipment and supplies. For more information on the fundraising efforts and to be a donor please visit the Friends of Sumner’s Future webpage.   

At the January 7, 2020 Board meeting, a formal resolution was passed announcing the work of the RSU 24 naming committee for the new middle/high school facility.  With a unanimous vote, the RSUB designated the forthcoming middle/high school facility in Sullivan, Maine to be named, in two parts, Sumner Memorial High School and Sumner Middle School. The property and structures on it will collectively be named the Charles M. Sumner Learning Campus.
Exterior and interior renderings of our new building are linked below.  (December 16, 2019)
Latest updates from the Architect for our new building. The drawings linked below may look different by the time all is said and done but the interior is starting to take shape. As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions, comments, or concerns! Ground breaking for the project is June of 2020! 
The referendum for the new middle/high school project passed on June 11, 2019 by a vote of 550 to 227. We are grateful for the support received and will continue to keep you updated with information on the progress of the project.. Next Steps for the Building Project are detailed in this linked document with an estimated timeline.
Awesome News!
At its monthly meeting yesterday in Fairfield, the Maine State Board of Education approved the "Site Application" for the new Sumner Memorial High School new building project. The Board unanimously voted to approve the current Sumner location as the site for our new grades 6-12 facility. This is a major milestone and puts on the next track of our journey, the Concept Design. Although we have completed a substantial amount of work toward our Concept Design, there is still work to be done.  

RSU 24 Students Deserve a New Facility

May 31, 2019 correspondence from Superintendent Eastman regarding the proposed new middle/high school building project

On April 10, 2019, the Maine State Board of Education unanimous approved our "Concept Design". By law, the State Board of Education approval sets a timeline of six months to obtain a favorable referendum vote for the building project.   The referendum will take place on Tuesday, June 11, at your local voting stations. The overall (district-wide) ballot count will decide whether we are able to move forward with the building process or not.

Please know that we will continue to try and keep you informed of the project.  A project brochure will be mailed to residents in our communities in the near future.  This brochure will, hopefully, answer any of the questions that you may have and present some of our plans for the building and property.  In addition, we will hold a public meeting on May 22, starting at 6:30 p.m. at Sumner Memorial High School. This presentation will be very similar to our last public meeting presentation but will not include a vote.

At a public meeting on March 20th, a vote was taken to see if those in attendance approved moving forward with the building project.  By a vote of 46-11, approval was granted for the Concept Design, which afforded us the opportunity to move forward with the project. The next step in the process was to present our Concept Design to the Maine State Board of Education for its approval.

The document used as part of the Public Meeting and Straw Poll on March 20, 2019, which explained the budget (tax) implications, was inaccurate due to an error in the formula calculation.  The corrected amounts are much more favorable and you will see a dramatic decrease in the tax burden from what was presented at the meeting.  Please take a moment to review the (revised) document linked below and let us know if you have any questions.

Power Point from the March 20, 2019 Public Meeting
On March 20th, there will be a public meeting and straw poll at 6:00 p.m. at Sumner Memorial High School. At the end of this meeting, you will be asked to vote as to whether or not you support the building project, so that it may move forward to the June 11 referendum.
This LINK is to the latest architect renderings. The design is not final and will continue to be discussed at the next Building Committee meeting.
Exterior View of the New School in Draft Form - December 2018 There is much work still to be done. As always, let us know if you have any comments or questions.
Most Recent DRAFT Site Plan Option
Most Recent DRAFT Floor Plan Option
The Sumner High School Building Committee met on February 20. Among the items discussed were the Educational Specifications Document. This document creates the conceptual roadmap for planning and designing a building that structurally supports our teaching and learning practices. The Committee approved moving the document forward for the RSU #24 Board of Directors to consider at its March 6th meeting.
The Building Committee also recommended holding a district-wide Straw Vote to gauge support for submitting the current Sumner Memorial High School location as the building site for the new school. This is an important step in the State required school construction process. This is a great opportunity to learn about the building project, offer input into the creation of the new facility, and volunteer to serve on one of several subcommittees that will delve in detail into specific aspects of planning and design of the new facility as the project moves forward. Your participation and ideas are needed and encouraged. Please plan on attending this important meeting. Date to be determined.
At the RSU #24 Board of Directors meeting on Feb 6, 2018, the Board voted unanimously to include the middle school grades (6-8) as part of the new building project.  There was optimism expressed by the board and by several in the audience that this move is in the best interest of our students.  This is an important milestone in the project and will allow us to move forward with the new building process.
February 6, 2018
Front Entry Rendering