LIVERMORE FALLS — The RSU 73 facilities committee agreed Monday to recommend to the school board on Tuesday not to take action on high school options at this time.

Superintendent Robert Wall recommended that the facilities committee postpone any action on the closing of the Spruce Mountain High School South Campus in Livermore Falls and action on a proposed addition at the north campus in Jay until more information on the building addition process options be fully explored.

It doesn’t mean it will go away, Wall said. It will be brought back in the near future.

The committee set its next meeting for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at the Cedar Street complex in Livermore Falls. Wall said the school board would meet the next night at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 12, at the complex.

Dozens of people turned out to hear what option the committee would recommend to the school board at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 20, at the Cedar Street complex.

The committee is exploring two options. One is to house all of the high school students at Jay school next year, if it was feasible for an addition to be built and ready next fall or at December 2012 break.

The second option is to keep both high schools operating in 2012-13 with all ninth-graders attending the Jay campus. That school would serve nine through 12 and the Livermore Falls campus would serve 10 through 12 from that area.

When Jay and RSU 36 residents in Livermore and Livermore Falls residents voted on a plan to consolidate in January 2011, part of the plan was a recommendation to close the Livermore Falls high school in 2012.

“This process we are going through is keeping the promise made for consolidation,” Wall said.

The most efficient and effective way to teach the students is to have them all in one school, he said.

It was initially estimated that it would cost $4.5 million for a 19,000-square-foot addition but it was mentioned Monday that it would cost an estimated $750,000 more.

It also depends on what size addition and how it is built, Wall said.

High school student Ethan Hutchins of Livermore Falls, who attends the Jay school, asked that students in the eighth grade and in high school be involved in the decision process.

Administration will look at holding a vote or conducting an opinion survey so students can have a say in the process.

Livermore resident Tom Gould asked that financial figures also be brought to the table to show how much it would cost to turn the Livermore Falls school into the middle school and have the middle school in Jay and the adjacent high school become the high school campus. That way people would know if it was feasible or not.

Wall said he has done some math on that and it would cost more.

Several points were made and concerns raised but it appeared the majority knew the Livermore Falls school will need to close but disputed the timeline.

Livermore Falls resident Ken Jacques said he was on the reorganization planning committee and served on the buildings and grounds subcommittee.

“We looked at everything,” Jacques said.

The recommendation was to close both the Livermore Falls middle and high school. The middle school’s academic wing is currently closed but the gym/stage area is still being used.

He said he heard people were worried about closing the high school and the town losing its identity.

“Where you went to school doesn’t make a person,” Jacques said.

He went to school in Chisholm and it is gone. Others went to school at St. Rose Catholic School and it’s gone, he said.

When people voted on the consolidation plan it was generally known the two school would close, Jacques said.

As far as the timeline, he said, the process should not be shoved down anybody’s throat.

Fiscal responsibility, broadening students education options, and needing to know what the addition would be like and the program options were all concerns raised.

Architect Craig Boone of Jay, who was also on the buildings and grounds subcommittee during consolidation planning, said that it would be an 18- to 24-month process including permits, financing and construction to build an addition.

[email protected]