CASTINE — Three years ago, the Adams School was flunking.

Adams School parents and alums heave second-story floor joists into place during Saturday’s community effort in Castine. Shown here (front to back) are Jan Ordway, Andy Chase, Colin Goodson and project designer Ted Lameyer.—PHOTO BY TODD NELSON

In June 2003, a Maine Department of Education team turned up a grim inventory of administrative shortcomings and recommended giving the school “provisional approval” status.

Six months later, the principal resigned.

A week after that, the Department of Education issued a follow-up report with a laundry list of troubles: lack of leadership, lack of discipline, problems with staff supervision, unequal treatment of students.

School Union 93 Superintendent Mark Hurvitt and Edwin “Buzz” Kastuck, head of the state’s school-approval services, worked out a plan. Kastuck would be the state’s on-site evaluator: once and sometimes twice a week, he would spend the day talking to parents, teachers, school board members and townspeople. He’d monitor classes and haunt the halls in an effort to help the school identify its problems and come up with solutions.

“My first or second day there, I was out behind the school talking to the science teacher,” Kastuck recalled Monday. “It was a cool area.”

Kastuck asked the science teacher, Bill McWeeny, what he thought the school needed. McWeeny indicated the open space where they were standing and said some kind of hands-on learning lab — a nature shack for field studies — would be a real plus. He suggested the construction could be a community project.

Kastuck liked that vision. He’d worked in a school system in Vermont where a maple sugar house on the school property was brought into the curriculum.

“It just struck me at the time,” Kastuck said.

A few months went by. Kastuck was a regular presence at the Adams School: generally welcomed, sometimes resented. That’s how it goes when you represent “the state.”

One night, at a meeting of the Castine School Committee, Kastuck pulled out a $50 bill, his own money. He told the board about Bill McWeeny’s vision, put his money on the table and said, “I’d like to see this thing get started.”

Fifty bucks. You can’t buy much with fifty bucks. Well, that’s not quite true. It covered the cost of the building permit.

It was to be another six months before things took off. In June 2004, the School Committee hired a new principal, Todd Nelson. Nelson’s wife was a former Adams School art teacher. Two of their three children went through the Adams School.

Nelson was on board with the nature shack from the get-go.

“I heard the idea and I thought: Maybe we can make the creation of this building into a nature study itself … from timber to timber frame.”

And so began the serious planning and the heavy lifting. Nelson had a vision of his own: they’d use their own wood and cut it themselves and mill it and have the parents and kids involved throughout.

Nelson provided the timber from his own land, chain-sawing cedar, fir, spruce and hackmatack. He would bring to school “cookies” cut from the ends of trees so students could smell the different kinds of wood, count the rings and do some math. One class had to figure what circumference was required to yield a 9-by-9 beam.

Nelson said he cut down 50 or 60 trees. No problem.

“It’s amazing to me how many trees you can take out of a thick forest and not miss them,” he said.

Local forester Jan Ordway, an Adams School alum, helped Nelson. Robert Sawyer, another Adams School grad, brought in his portable sawmill.

“We spent several hot days last summer milling the wood,” Nelson said.

In the fall of 2005, they brought the wood to school and students started stacking boards and beams. Timber-framing was introduced to the school day. Ted Lameyer, an Adams School parent who happens to be an architect, tutored the kids in the use of chisels. They talked about the design of the nature shack and he put the question to them: What is it about the proportions that make this look right? And so began a unit on practical geometry. Lameyer put a great deal of time into the project — “drawing the plans, building the deck, tutoring kids on timber framing techniques, etc. Elbow grease and brains,” Nelson said.

Community work days started last spring. Groups of parents, teachers and students worked on rafters. Bents (the sides of the structure) were stacked up. The frame was pre-assembled. Cross beams and joists and the bents were ready to be raised and pulled onto the tenons to make a joint.

Last Saturday was the big day. Between 10 and 12 Adams School families participated in the nature shack version of a barn raising. Now, 10 or 12 families may not seem like a lot. But when you note that the entire student body is 53 kids in grades kindergarten through 8, then 10 or 12 families seems like quite a fine representation.

The parents heaved and hauled and lifted the bents into place, the frame becoming more rigid as pegs were pounded in. At the end of the day: e pluribus shack.

They’re not done.

“Now we need shingles, doors and windows,” Nelson said.

Nelson is particularly pleased that the project is not costing the taxpayers anything. He landed an anonymous donation of $1,000 given by a Castine resident in honor of Louise Wheeler. Ellsworth Builders Supply is giving $500 for materials. The Friends of Holbrook Island and the Healthy Peninsula Coalition each provided $500.

And don’t forget the $50 from Buzz Kastuck.

“Buzz got us going,” Nelson said.

Well, yes. But Kastuck has his own view.

“Not much happened until Todd got there. Todd is a great leader, a great enabler. He lets people try things. He encourages their performance. He encourages them to try new things ... that’s where things really took off.

“It was a lot of work. Kids every step of the way. A lot of people have their fingerprints all over this building. When it’s done, it’s going to be a great day.

Pause.

“It already is a great day,” Kastuck said.

Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)