Significant progress has been made on the construction of the new Windham Raymond Middle School on Windham Center Road, including moving the horse barn on the property for future use as an outdoor classroom.
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| Construction on the new Windham Raymond Middle School is on schedule and remains about $16 million under budget, according to RSU 14 Superintendent of Schools Christopher Howell. Steel building framework and enclosed student stairwells are going up and work to move an existing horse barn at the site has been completed. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE |
Howell said that the new school will use a team-teaching concept where students will be divided into 12 teams to provide personal connection and then broken up into smaller instructional teams. It will incorporate Integrative Project Based Learning through team teaching, a method of instruction where a group of teachers work together to plan, conduct, and evaluate learning activities for the same group of students and the school’s design takes all of that into account with the team areas of the building allowing for a science teacher, math teacher, social studies teacher, and an English teacher to be in the same teaming area.
Classrooms will be on the new school’s upper floors and will not have any outside stairs or hallways, with administration and guidance offices housed on the ground level. The school grounds also feature a protected wetland area that students will cross by an aluminum boardwalk for outdoor learning opportunities and a school garden. The cooling and heating system will be designed for long-term cost savings and adaptability for the future. State-of-the-art drainage will protect the site’s surrounding environment and a 600-seat performing arts auditorium will be built as part of the new school.
“It’s just been an amazing process to watch and see the large precision of this process,” Howell said. “We are $16 million under the original budget and expect things to remain that way.”
Back in November 2023, a plurality of voters in the school district, which encompasses Windham and Raymond, approved a referendum to build the new school with about 77 percent of construction costs paid by the Maine Department of Education’s Major Capital Construction Program. The total project budget including fees, soft costs, contingencies, furnishings, and equipment is estimated at about $171.5 million, with the state funding $131.7 million and residents paying the remaining $39.8 million.
The original Windham Middle School opened in 1977 and was intended for a capacity of 483 students. That number has grown in the past years to 650 students and some sixth graders being housed for classes at the adjacent Field Allen School, which was built in 1949. Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond opened in 1962.
“The new school will open with a little more than 1,000 students, and has a capacity for 1,200 students, so there’s some room built in taking future growth into account,” Howell said. “Kids in Grade 3 to 6 right now will be the first to use the new school.”
The school site will also include the creation of three new athletic fields and an existing soccer field near Windham Center Road.
Once open, the new Windham Raymond Middle School will provide instruction for students currently attending Windham Middle School, Jordan-Small Middle School and fifth graders at Manchester School in Windham. The current Windham Middle School and Jordan-Small Middle School will be closed and turned over to their respective municipalities for repurposing.
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.
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, which was the case with Windham Middle School and Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond.
Construction at the site is being led by Shaw Brothers and Landry French.
Because of the steady construction progress to date, Howell said he believes by next August 50 to 60 percent of the school construction will be completed.
“It’s a once in a career thing to do and watch this process all the way through,” Howell said. “Everything we planned on paper is coming to fruition and it’s so exciting.” <
