WRMS construction running smoothly and under budget

By Ed Pierce

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.

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

Christopher Howell, RSU 14 Superintendent of Schools, says that construction costs for the school have remained constant and the project continues to be on schedule for a planned opening of September 2027. The new school will be a free-standing multi-story building with more than 260,000 gross square feet of new construction for learning space, an auditorium, gymnasium, and dining facilities.

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.” <

Windham town hall offices shifting to four-day work week

By Ed Pierce

Starting June 21, Windham Town Hall employees will be shifting to a four-day work week.

Following a discussion during a Windham Town Council workshop earlier this month, Windham Town Manager Barry Tibbetts consulted department heads and other town hall staff and asked them how to best accommodate residents while creating a competitive work/life balance for employees.

Employees of the Windham Town Clerk's office will adapt 
to a new work schedule soon as Town Hall workers will be
shifting to a new four-day work schedule starting June 21.
PHOTO BY LINDA MORRELL

Tibbetts said other nearby communities have adopted four-day work week schedules and currently having a number of municipal vacancies, Windham needs to be as competitive as possible to attract and retain workers. During the previous workshop, several councilors expressed concerns about town hall offices being closed on Fridays and those seeking services having to wait until Monday for employees to be available.

“To be competitive, we need to be similar to towns around us yet be accessible for services,” Tibbetts told town council members during a meeting on Tuesday night.

According to Tibbetts, department heads told him that the greatest demand for town hall services is earlier in the day and not in the late afternoon and evening. He said many services available at town hall can also be found easily and accomplished online.

Because the town charter grants him the authority to determine operational hours for employees, Tibbetts said he’s willing to try shifting to a four-day work week for town hall staff on a six-month trial basis.

“After review of the proposed operational times, discussions with staff at multiple levels, comparisons with similar municipalities, I have made the decision to amend the operational open times for the town,” Tibbetts said.

The new hours effective June 21 will be 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays, and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursdays, and closed on Fridays.

“This date coincides with the time-recording system for payroll. This change does not affect the total hours worked; those remain the same. I asked staff to provide what they thought were the best times for providing services to the public with a four-day work week schedule,” Tibbetts said. “The majority of the staff felt the following time, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., worked best for the public with an extended day. The town allows for numerous opportunities on-line to re-register vehicles, smaller recreational vehicles, trailers, pets, hunting & fishing licenses, recreational programming, voting registration, request vital records, and taxes.”

He said advances in technology opportunities further enhance the convenience of reaching the town hall and that if a resident cannot make the time frame of hours, a friend or relative can process a re-registration for them or they can use mail.

With the change, public entry to municipal offices on Fridays will not be available, excluding the gym at town hall, which has a separate access point.

In a memo to councilors, Tibbetts pointed out that some senior level and other staff members may work on Fridays to process necessary filings as needed, but public access to municipal offices will be closed.

“Fire, Police and Public Works currently work a variable schedule with no major impacts from this proposed four-day work week,” Tibbetts said. “There may be some union language changes to work through on existing contracts. The library currently has a six-day week and would look to maintain that schedule with modifications to hours open and closing while coordinating staff to have two consecutive days off.

Tibbetts said that the June 21 effective date for the change has been established to provide an eight-week window to let the public know about the new hours for the Windham Town Hall.

“It’ll be a bit of an educational process and it’ll take some time, but we need to move forward with this,” Tibbetts told councilors.

He says a summary report will be provided to the Town Council in six months about the effectiveness of changing the hours for operations and any next steps, along with tracking of transactions for analysis. <