New street names will help emergency vehicles to navigate efficiently at RSU14 complex

By Matt Pascarella

It’s every parent’s nightmare: an emergency vehicle is needed at one of the schools on the RSU 14 main campus. What if those vehicles didn’t know which school was which? The address of Windham Primary School is 404 Gray Road. If you put that into a GPS, it doesn’t bring you to the Primary School.

Windham High School campus. Photo courtesy of
Maineimagining.com

Beginning July 1, 2019 three roadways on the RSU 14 main campus will undergo a renaming to enhance the delivery of emergency services to our growing school district, to assist out of town emergency responders and to be able to clearly direct citizens to individual locations for district events and functions.

The roadway from Route 202, past the tennis courts, past the Adult Education building, past the rear of Windham Middle School, past Field Allen School to Windham Center Road will become Educational Way.

The roadway from the intersection of the new Educational Way to the stadium field; right hand road past the stadium to Windham Center Road will become Stadium Drive.

The roadway from the intersection of Route 202 that runs between Windham High School and Windham Middle School to the intersection of the new Educational Way will become Expedition Drive.

“It’s not just a matter of labeling,” explained Chris Howell, assistant to the Superintendent. “It’s for 9-1-1 services. Having a regional dispatch that’s covering all these different communities, it’s important that when they have a place they know the exact location, because it may not be someone who’s familiar with the community who is sending help...it’s important that we have the right locations.”

If you search for the address of Windham Primary School (404 Gray Road) in a GPS, it’ll bring you to a driveway and then the emergency vehicle would have to hunt for the location. “The last thing we would want is time being wasted in case of emergencies,” commented Mike Duffy, Safety and Support Specialist for RSU 14.

In addition to the address changes on the school campus near the Primary School, signage will also be added to the campus. Windham hosts individuals from all over Maine for events and it’s important they know where the athletic fields are located, and which buildings are which. “Mike is going to be working on the exact street address so we can send people to those locations. We want to be a good host and the last thing we want is one of our visitors driving around campus trying to figure out where things are,” Howell added.

Windham High School, Windham/Raymond Adult Education and the Kathadin Program will all keep the 406 Gray Road address. Windham Middle School will remain 408 Gray Road. RSU 14 Windham/Raymond School Superintendent Office and Central Office will remain 228 Windham Center Road; this address will apply to the billing address, which will not change. There will be no change to Manchester or Raymond Schools.

Windham Primary School will change from 404 Gray Road to 24 Educational Way and that will also be the new mailing address. Field Allen School will change from 215 Windham Center Road to 45 Educational Way. Field Allen School does not receive mail. The sewage treatment plant will become 8 Stadium Drive.

Postcards will be sent to vendors for billing purposes. There will be no cost to Windham/Raymond residents other than the man hours it takes the crews to install these signs and rename the roads. Maps will be put in the kiosks around campus to make it easier to find various locations.

This change will take place July 1, 2019 with the goal to have everything in place for the 2019-2020 school year.

Emails will be sent out via List Serve, which goes to parents and staff. There will also be a notice in The Link newsletter, which goes to every resident.

“It’s going to help a lot of people and it’ll be a lot easier giving directions,” added Duffy.