By an overwhelming majority, a plan to situate the new Windham Raymond Middle School at 61 Windham Center Road was approved by residents during a straw poll conducted by RSU 14 on June 29.
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| Preliminary sketches of the new Windham Raymond Middle School, like this one shown, were unveiled to the public during straw poll voting regarding the selection of property at 61 Windham Center Road as the site to locate the new school on June 29. The site was approved 41-3 by voters and will be taken up by the State School Board later this month. COURTESY PHOTO |
In the fall of 2021, the RSU 14 Board of Directors entered into an option-to-purchase agreement with the owner of 61 Windham Center Road in Windham and the owner agreed to take the property off the market for a period of up to two years. The cost of that option was $110,000 in the first year and $100,000 of the payment would be applied toward the purchase price. The option to extend the second year of the agreement was $10,000 per month but none of the funds from the second year would be applied at closing.
According to Howell, the project calls for a new middle school for Grades 5 to 8 for both Windham and
Raymond students. Windham fifth graders currently at Manchester School would attend the new school, as would Jordan-Small Middle School students from Raymond.
“We are currently calling this project the new Windham Raymond Middle School,” Howell said. “The project is being designed for a capacity of 1,200 students.”
He said RSU 14 is still in the process of finalizing the conceptual drawings for the new building with the Maine Department of Education.
“The final concept will be brought back to the community for another straw poll vote in August,” Howell said. “After the vote, the concept will go to the full State School Board for final approval. Once approved, the project can go to referendum.”
Lavallee Brensinger Company of Portland is serving as architects for the construction project and Howell said that the school is being designed to accommodate teams of two to four staff members.
“The teaming structure will give students the feel of being in a smaller school within the larger school. Each team will have spaces that are dedicated to each of the core subject areas,” he said. “In addition, the building will be structured to allow for the integration of some of the applied arts within the team. The development of the team structure will serve to bring the best possible facilities to each team. In contrast, the original Windham Junior High School, now Windham Middle School was built as a departmentalized Junior High School.”
According to Howell, within the current teaming structure, only some classrooms have access to lab classrooms as part of science classes.
“At Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond, the building was originally designed as an elementary school. When the building was repurposed as a middle school, two science labs were created to serve students in four different grades,” he said. “The new building will also incorporate the newer state guidelines for room sizes. Many of the classrooms at WMS are significantly undersized when compared to current standards.”
The original Windham Middle School was built in 1977 and intended for a capacity of 483 students. That number has grown in the last year to 636 students, with sixth graders being housed for some classes at the adjacent Field Allen School, originally constructed in 1949.
RSU 14 first applied for the Maine Department of Education’s Major Capital Construction Program in 2016 for funding for construction and was ranked as the fifth-highest priority among 74 proposed school construction projects statewide each year before eventually gaining approval in March 2021.
Once a district applies for funding, Maine Department of Education reviews and rates the projects based upon need. The State Board of Education then funds as many projects from the list as available debt limit funds allow. Working with the State Board of Education, Maine DOE establishes both size and financial limits on projects.
“The program is highly competitive as a positive rating in the process can lead to significant financial savings for school districts,” Howell said. “A majority of construction costs for school projects selected through this program will be covered by the state.”
Local school districts may exceed these limits at local expense through municipal bonds, but the state bears the major financial burden of capital costs for approved school construction projects. As such, Maine DOE first looks at the possibility of renovations or renovations with additions and new school construction projects are only considered in instances in which renovation projects are not economically or educationally feasible.
More than 132 potential 35-plus acre sites were originally identified for review by the RSU 14 WMS Building Committee and then ranked according to transportation accessibility, utility availability, environmental impact, and a range of other factors.
Howell said the state is paying roughly 80 percent of the cost of the project.
“The Middle School Construction Committee is recommending additional items to the project that will result in additional local cost,” he said. “Some of the additions include additional parking, a 600-seat auditorium, additional bleacher seating, a larger gym, walking track, and outdoor classrooms. The estimated cost at this point in the project is $140 million in state subsidized construction and $38 million in local additional costs. Again, the costs are preliminary, and we continue to refine the budget. It is also important to note that Windham will be responsible for roughly 80 percent of the $38 million and Raymond will be responsible for roughly 20 percent.
He said RSU 14 is still in the process of finalizing the conceptual drawings for the new building with the Maine Department of Education.
“The final concept will be brought back to the community for another straw poll vote in August,” Howell said. “After the vote, the concept will go to the full State School Board for final approval. Once approved, the project can go to referendum.”
Lavallee Brensinger Company of Portland is serving as architects for the construction project and Howell said that the school is being designed to accommodate teams of two to four staff members.
“The teaming structure will give students the feel of being in a smaller school within the larger school. Each team will have spaces that are dedicated to each of the core subject areas,” he said. “In addition, the building will be structured to allow for the integration of some of the applied arts within the team. The development of the team structure will serve to bring the best possible facilities to each team. In contrast, the original Windham Junior High School, now Windham Middle School was built as a departmentalized Junior High School.”
According to Howell, within the current teaming structure, only some classrooms have access to lab classrooms as part of science classes.
“At Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond, the building was originally designed as an elementary school. When the building was repurposed as a middle school, two science labs were created to serve students in four different grades,” he said. “The new building will also incorporate the newer state guidelines for room sizes. Many of the classrooms at WMS are significantly undersized when compared to current standards.”
The original Windham Middle School was built in 1977 and intended for a capacity of 483 students. That number has grown in the last year to 636 students, with sixth graders being housed for some classes at the adjacent Field Allen School, originally constructed in 1949.
RSU 14 first applied for the Maine Department of Education’s Major Capital Construction Program in 2016 for funding for construction and was ranked as the fifth-highest priority among 74 proposed school construction projects statewide each year before eventually gaining approval in March 2021.
Once a district applies for funding, Maine Department of Education reviews and rates the projects based upon need. The State Board of Education then funds as many projects from the list as available debt limit funds allow. Working with the State Board of Education, Maine DOE establishes both size and financial limits on projects.
“The program is highly competitive as a positive rating in the process can lead to significant financial savings for school districts,” Howell said. “A majority of construction costs for school projects selected through this program will be covered by the state.”
Local school districts may exceed these limits at local expense through municipal bonds, but the state bears the major financial burden of capital costs for approved school construction projects. As such, Maine DOE first looks at the possibility of renovations or renovations with additions and new school construction projects are only considered in instances in which renovation projects are not economically or educationally feasible.
More than 132 potential 35-plus acre sites were originally identified for review by the RSU 14 WMS Building Committee and then ranked according to transportation accessibility, utility availability, environmental impact, and a range of other factors.
Howell said the state is paying roughly 80 percent of the cost of the project.
“The Middle School Construction Committee is recommending additional items to the project that will result in additional local cost,” he said. “Some of the additions include additional parking, a 600-seat auditorium, additional bleacher seating, a larger gym, walking track, and outdoor classrooms. The estimated cost at this point in the project is $140 million in state subsidized construction and $38 million in local additional costs. Again, the costs are preliminary, and we continue to refine the budget. It is also important to note that Windham will be responsible for roughly 80 percent of the $38 million and Raymond will be responsible for roughly 20 percent.
The new school is expected to be open by Fall 2027. <
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