Officials Continue Work on High School Plans

The vote is over. But there’s still plenty of work to be done planning the new Wilmington High School.

After financing for the school was approved at and in December, officials have been hammering out the details of the plan in recent weeks.

Towards the end of last week, Superintendent of Schools Joanne Benton met with teachers to get their input of what they’d like to see in a new school, meetings that will continue early this week.

“I wanted to have as many teachers involved as possible,” said Benton. “The excitement level was high after the vote, and it’s ever higher now that we know it is a reality. Everyone is dreaming big, and we’ll do the best we can. There is only so much money to go around.”

Specifically up for discussion is what materials will be used on the exterior and interior of the building, and what kind of furniture will fill classrooms. That conversation will continue on Thursday during the High School Building Committee meeting.

Town Manager Michael Caira said there is a great deal of work to be done leading up to the opening of the school in 2014.

“There are decisions to be made right up until the building is opened,” said Caira. “In terms of this phase, over the next several months the building itself and the layout of most of the site, those decisions will be made. Final decisions don’t have to be made as early.”

One of the initial phases will happen this spring. In March, work will begin on the football field, which will be changed from natural grass to artificial turf. The surface will be ready for use by the football team for practices at the end of this summer.

The field will be used by Wildcat teams, but also other programs in the town, Caira said.

“Having artificial turf expands our opportunities to provide playing fields not only for the high school, but also for community youth groups,” said Caira. “It provides a field that’s more durable and can be used more often. That opens up other fields in town for use and for rest, and they certainly need to be rested.”

After the town has completed its annual Fourth of July celebration this year, construction will officially begin. The gymnasium is slated to be knocked down this summer.

“We’re still very busy working with the architects and project manager on the design,” said Caira. “We’re getting into more specifics now about how the site will look, how the building will look and how the classrooms will be designed.”