Windham Schools Are Significantly Over Capacity

Hello and welcome! My name is Heather Petro and I have lived in Windham for 10 years.  Since moving to Windham, I have been actively involved in supporting public education. In 2003, I founded the Windham Public Kindergarten Initiative, and along with many others worked towards bringing public kindergarten to Windham.  In 2009, I co-founded Windham LINK, a website dedicated to informing residents about education needs in our community.   More recently, I served on the Facilities Master Planning Committee. 

As a member of the Committee, our primary objective was to recommend a long term facilities plan to the School Board.  Our group of 16 consisted of School Board members, principals and directors of all the schools, administration, architects, community members and the District Facilities Manager.  We conducted extensive research, sight tours, and population studies.  We presented our preliminary findings to the Board in January of 2011 and a Master Plan recommendation in June of 2011.

What did we learn? The overcrowding situation in our schools today is more critical than it has ever been.  Since the year 2000, Windham has grown by 25%.  Recent projections suggest that we currently have a total student population that is  approximately 85% of what projected levels will be within the next 10 years.  The bottom line is we need space. 

Voters approved Phase One of the Master Plan which is being carried out through the construction of the kindergarten addition to Golden Brook School.  Phase Two is currently being reviewed by the School Board.  The Committee recommended the renovation of Windham Middle School into a two-house structure for grades 5-8.  Grades 5/6 and 7/8 would be in separate wings of the building and share core facilities.

There are critical capacity issues facing all three of our lower grade schools. We need to act now to ensure there will be a bond on the ballot this March to complete Phase Two of the Master Plan by 2014. Lavallee Brensinger Architects was contracted by the District to develop and provide solutions for adding capacity to meet current and future student population needs. According to a construction schedule they presented to the Board last spring, if a bond to renovate passes in the March 2012 election, the earliest time we could occupy a new building would be January 2014 (just over two years from now).  If you have a child currently in fifth grade or younger, they would benefit from a renovated Middle School.

Why the Middle School?  The Middle School is significantly overcrowded.  It was built with enough classroom space for 376.  This year, there are 626 enrolled.  Overcrowding has resulted in the compromising of space for Unified Arts and special education.  Due to a lack of facilities and the inability to offer Tech Ed and Family Consumer Sciences, the school is technically an elementary school. Only half of the science classes have labs available to them and currently half of the Library is a makeshift classroom.  This year, several sixth-grade Spanish classes have 30 students.  This is the maximum number of students allowed at any grade level in New Hampshire.

The benefits of renovating the Middle School are widespread. Children currently in fifth grade and below would benefit from any construction at the Middle School.  Renovating the middle school to include fifth grade solves the space issues at Center School; eliminating the need for a third grade split between Center School and Golden Brook as it is this year.  Golden Brook would house kindergarten through second grade.  By keeping the on-site portable classroom at Golden Brook, there would be enough space until Phase Three of the Master Plan is implemented.

I am starting this blog on Windham Patch to help Windham residents stay informed about current issues involving our school district.  Try to think back as to why you chose to live here, why you wanted to raise your family here, and what it is that makes you proud to say you live in Windham.  Doing this for our children is a given, but we owe it to ourselves and to our investment in our homes to make Windham a highly desirable community in which to live.  In a town like ours that  has grown so fast in such a short period of time, our biggest asset is our schools.  Sign up on the Windham.Patch.com homepage to receive newsletters and updates.  You can also sign up to recieve emails directly from Windham LINK.  Now is the time to stay informed about your investment in our schools!