New London — The School Building and Maintenance Committee has recommended that the city build a new high school to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act at a cost to city taxpayers of between $15 million and $25 million.

The City Council Monday referred the matter to its Education, Parks & Recreation Committee for further discussion. A meeting has not yet been scheduled.

A new high school would cost about $67 million, but the state would reimburse between $42 million and $52 million, depending on the eligible costs.

"It was decided it would be in the best interest of the city to build new,'' said Alvin Kinsall, chairman of the Board of Education and a member of the school building committee.

The committee reviewed a report by Friar Associates, which looked at the costs to bring the 42-year-old building into compliance with the ADA. Like many schools in the state and across the country built before 1990 when ADA was enacted, New London is struggling to make its older buildings accessible to those with disabilities.

Kinsall said the group also agreed by consensus that a new school could be built on the same property as the existing high school on Jefferson Avenue.

"But it's just a suggestion,'' Kinsall said.

Superintendent Nicholas A. Fischer said the idea would be to build where it would have the least impact on students, but a site has yet to be determined.

It is up to the City Council to decide if it wants to spend the money on a new school.

In August 2010, the state issued a 15-page report that listed pages and pages of ADA noncompliance problems at the high school. If the building is not retrofitted to accommodate those with disabilities, the school district could lose more than $7.8 million in federal funds.

A program compliance review for Title IX funds conducted earlier this year by the Office of Civil Rights found classrooms, athletic fields, seating in the gymnasium, the pool, bathrooms, the main entrance and parking all failed to meet the standards for accessibility to those with disabilities.

New London has been on a voluntary corrective action time line, which allows it to demonstrate to the state that it is making a good-faith effort to remedy the ADA issues.

k.edgecomb@theday.com