Yet another straw vote conducted by RSU 14 is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 24 in the Windham High School auditorium and will focus on the proposed concept design of the new Windham/Raymond Middle School building to serve the school’s team-teaching Integrative Project Based Learning plans.
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| A straw poll by RSU 14 is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 24 in the Windham High School auditorium and will focus on the proposed concept design of the new Windham/Raymond Middle school building to serve the school's team-teaching Integrative Project Based Learning plans. The school is expected to open in 2027. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
RSU 14 Superintendent of Schools Christopher Howell said that the non-binding straw poll vote is one of the many steps in the approval process outlined in the Maine Department of Education construction program and this step must be completed prior to the concept design being submitted to the Maine State School Board for final approval.
“This vote is specific to the concept design that was developed with input from students, staff, and community members,” Howell said. “A positive straw poll vote will allow the project to go forward to the Maine State School Board where it will be reviewed at both the committee level and at the board level. As a reminder, this project is roughly 80 percent funded by the State of Maine. For the district to unlock the state funds, we must demonstrate that the community is in support of what has been designed.”
Under the team-teaching concept, students attending the new Windham/Raymond Middle School will be divided into 12 teams to provide personal connection and then broken up into smaller teams. Incorporating Integrative Project Based Learning, Team Teaching is a method of instruction where a group of teachers work together to plan, conduct, and evaluate learning activities for the same group of students.
“Teaming is considered to be a best practice at the middle level and supports student achievement in a couple of different ways,” Howell said. “First, teaming serves to break a large school into smaller sizes. This arrangement promotes an environment where students feel more connected to their school and teachers have a better opportunity of knowing the needs of their students. Second, teaming makes it easier for teachers to plan and deliver instructional units that integrate content areas.”
According to Howell, the team areas of this building are designed to allow for a science teacher, math teacher, social studies teacher, and an English teacher to be in the same teaming area.
“The delivery of content through integrated units and projects increases student engagement and ultimately student achievement,” the superintendent said.
In June, voters in a different straw poll conducted RSU 14 approved a proposal to situate the new Windham/Raymond Middle School at 61 Windham Center Road in Windham. The plan was then presented to the Maine State School Board Construction Committee which unanimously approved moving forward with it and recommended the proposal to the full Maine State School Board.
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 in 2021. 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.
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 expected to pay 80 percent of the cost of the $140 million project, or about $102 million. Windham residents would be responsible for roughly 80 percent of the remaining $38 million with Raymond residents responsible for 20 percent of that.
Under the project plans for the new middle school, the school would educate Windham and Raymond students in Grades 5 to 8. Windham fifth graders currently attending Manchester School would attend the new school, as would Jordan-Small Middle School students from Raymond. The new school is being designed for a capacity of 1,200 students.
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. Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond was built in 1960.
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.
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 that it is anticipated the students and staff will move into the new Windham/Raymond Middle School building in the fall of 2027. Windham and Raymond students who will be entering grades 1 to 4 this fall will be the first classes to occupy the building. <
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