One need not spend much time searching to know there’s lots new going on this upcoming school year in Regional School Unit 5, which begins Monday.

For starters, Ed McDonough is the new superintendent, taking over for William Michaud and Mike Lafortune, who shared that role on an interim basis in the last school year.

At Freeport High, work begins this fall on a $14.6 million renovation, beginning with the demolition of the industrial arts wing. While that’s going on, students will take mathematics classes in two portable modules set up on the school’s front lawn. On the learning end of the equation, Freeport High is adopting a proficiency-based curriculum. Because the system is still being developed for approval by the Maine Department of Education, Principal Brian Campbell and his staff are still implementing the concepts.

Students at Morse Street School, located next to the high school, will have a new principal this year. Lafortune is spending the final days of his tenure – which ends this week – seeking a replacement for Tom Ambrose, who had the job for five years. As of the Tri-Town Weekly publication deadline Monday, a new principal had not been identified.

Aug. 31 is the first day of school for students in grades kindergarten through 9, and grades 10-12 report for classes at Freeport High School the following day. RSU 5 will break for a four-day Labor Day weekend on Sept. 4, and reconvene with all students on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

Nelson Larkins of Freeport, chairman of the RSU 5 Board of Directors, anticipates positive changes.

“Change for the good is in the air with our new superintendent, Ed McDonough, bringing a fresh perspective to the job,” Larkins said in an email to the Tri-Town Weekly. “Additionally, it is great to finally see the high school renovation and addition project about to break ground. The project is going to bring profound and positive changes to the education of our students.”

Larkins added that the school board is confident that “the mix of experienced and new faces in our schools is going to push innovation and learning forward for all the kids in Durham, Freeport and Pownal.”

Students at Freeport High will be dealing with some noise, as workers begin to remove the industrial arts wing of the building. John Simoneau of Durham, chairman of the Freeport High School Building Advisory Committee, said that contractors will do their best to disturb students as little as possible.

“The noise is a concern,” Simoneau said. “We’re going to have to coordinate the activities for noise, and have adequate egress. It won’t be terribly noisy, but there will be vibrations.”

Given town approval two weeks ago for site plan amendments to begin the high school renovation, Simoneau pointed to a Wednesday, Aug. 26, meeting with the school board to issue the design, developed by PDT Architects of Portland, for contractors. Bids are due on Sept. 29.

“We’re pretty much all systems go,” Simoneau said. “Once we receive bids, the board will have to approve the contractor. The demo of the industrial arts wing will come first, then we’ll do site work and prep for the new wing.”

The two-story addition is intended to accommodate existing enrollment and future growth, and give students more modern learning spaces.

The portable classrooms will be on site when students report for opening day. They will be situated close to a memorial tree planted 25 years ago in memory of student Craig Richard, killed in a bicycling accident. The portables and the tree, both located near the school’s vehicle entrance loop, are fenced in.

“Those portables are going to be very busy,” Simoneau said. “They’re putting math classes in there. It’s going to be a fair amount of foot traffic.”

The Department of Education has granted all school districts in the state an extension in order to institute proficiency-based learning, Larkins said. Incoming freshmen next fall must be instructed accordingly, so that they can receive diplomas in 2020 according to a state mandate.

On the Freeport High School front lawn, a fence surrounds two new portable classrooms and the memorial tree planted 25 years ago in memory of a student.Staff photo by Larry Grard