East Lyme — The Board of Education will hold the first in a series of community forums on the elementary school building project at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, at the East Lyme Middle School cafeteria. 

The school board will present the rationale for the building project, the proposal adopted by the Board of Education, the logistics and timing of the project, and estimated costs.

Child care will be available in the media center at no cost, according to the flier.

The Board of Education is pursuing a plan to completely renovate and expand the Niantic Center School with a new addition, build the Flanders Elementary School as new, and give the Lillie B. Haynes building to the town.

Renderings and cost estimates for the proposed buildings projects — the new construction of the Flanders and the renovation of Niantic Center — are available on the school district's website.

Following project state reimbursement, the new Flanders Elementary School is expected to cost the town $35,604,196 and the renovated Niantic Center School is expected to cost the town $27,851,116, according to preliminary cost estimates.

The estimates are based on a timeline in which the project is approved at a townwide referendum in the spring.

The project would need to go before the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance before a referendum is held.