FRENCHVILLE, Maine — As MSAD 33 officials plan the rebuilding of a Frenchville elementary school, the district could also join with another St. John Valley school system.
The MSAD 33 and Madawaska school boards will meet Jan. 26 to discuss the new Dr. Levesque Elementary School project, which the Maine Department of Education approved in November.
The Department of Education approved funding to rebuild Dr. Levesque late last year, nearly five years after the school was destroyed by a devastating fire. It was one of only two schools selected by the state for reconstruction funds. The other was Dike Newell Elementary School, which an arsonist burned in 2022. The state prioritized both projects because the schools were lost to fires.
Additionally, the Madawaska School Department is exploring the possibility of regional alignment with MSAD 33, which serves Frenchville and St. Agatha, said Superintendent Ben Sirois, who leads both districts as well as MSAD 27 in Fort Kent.
“It is important to clarify that the approved construction project currently belongs to MSAD 33,” Sirois said. “Madawaska’s participation is contingent on future voter approval related to governance and school configuration. If Madawaska voters ultimately choose not to participate, MSAD 33 would proceed independently with its project.”
Members of the Department of Education’s school construction team will attend the upcoming meeting to explain the project’s timeline, cost and process, while taking questions from school officials and the public.
Sirois said that while they will be taking public comment, the meeting is not a formal public hearing. It is primarily intended to support transparency and informed discussion.
The Department of Education has encouraged Madawaska to engage in these discussions now instead of waiting for a separate regional application cycle, because MSAD 33 already has a state-approved construction project, he said.
No formal decisions about a potential merger have been made, but Sirois said that officials in both districts would have an opportunity to hear the same information about that process directly from the state department.
The Frenchville and Bath rebuilds were selected out of a total of 95 on the Maine Major Capital School Construction Program’s 2025-26 priority list.
The fire at Dr. Levesque Elementary School broke out on July 27, 2021, and displaced 130 students, 10 full-time teachers and 10 additional staff. The state fire marshal later determined that the blaze was caused by an issue with electrical components in a wall between the gym and the nurse’s office. The building was a total loss.
Students did not miss a single day of classes due to the fire, which happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. All students and staff were moved to Wisdom Middle/High School in St. Agatha.
In a 2022 letter to the Maine Board of Education, asking for the project to be placed on the construction priority list, Sirois wrote that the temporary relocation of everyone under one roof was not sustainable over the long term.
The state’s Major Capital Improvement Program for school construction and approval involves 21 steps. This includes straw polling for public approval, site selection, concept approval and a referendum vote before ground can be broken. The referendum would be the 13th step of this process.
The January meeting is purely focused on sharing information and taking questions. A straw poll will take place at a later date and will be announced in advance in accordance with the capital improvement program’s standards.
Even if voters approve bringing Madawaska into MSAD 33, that incorporation would not take effect until the new school opens, which would be several years away, Sirois said.
“This meeting is an early step in ensuring the public has accurate information well before any binding decisions are required,” he said.
More information about the potential collaboration between Madawaska and MSAD 33 is available online at msad33msdcollab.blogspot.com.
The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Jan. 26 at the St. John Valley Technology Center in Frenchville.
