BIDDEFORD — About 130 Grade Eight students have been attending classes at Biddeford High School since schools reopened in the fall of 2020.

Now, the school department and the Biddeford School Committee are discussing if that will continue.

The eighth grade students, with the exception of about 40 kids in the Grade Eight STEM Academy who remain at Biddeford Middle School, were moved to BHS in an effort to keep class sizes smaller during the pandemic. At BHS, they are located on the third floor, and with the exception of about 45 students who take a higher-level class in a subject, like  math or some other offering, the students do not mingle with the high school classes.

If they stay, it will likely mean constructing an addition at Biddeford High School. If they are to leave BHS, and if the School Committee wants to keep the smaller classes, it would likely mean construction at Biddeford Middle School. Either project would be funded by federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief allocations.

Superintendent of Schools Jeremy Ray estimated an addition to Biddeford High School, essentially between it and the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology, would cost $3.5 to $4 million. He said he has been told construction tends to be around $400 a square foot, but because all the utilities are already in place, the cost would be around $250 per square foot.

He said when  schools opened four days a week and later went to five days, the middle school was able to keep 16 or 17 students in a regular classroom, 12 in a mentor’s classroom and 10 in a classroom with an intern.

Currently there are 15 classrooms using resident education interns, who are university students studying education, said Ray.

“The teachers and resident interns have done a great job,” said Ray. And as it turns out, when some teaching staff retired at the end of last year, seven people who had been interns were hired.

BHS Principal Martha Jacques said there are some space limitations currently at the high school.

If the eighth grade students stay at BHS, the Grade Eight STEM Academy could join them.

School Committee member Karen Ruel asked about alternatives. Ray said an addition to Biddeford Middle School, making it Grade Five through Eight, was a possibility. Adding onto Biddeford Intermediate School is more problematic because of layout, he said. Adding a large wing into Biddeford Primary School presents issues because of ledge, and a lack of parking. Absent the BHS option, adding onto the middle school would likely be the easiest alternative, Ray said.

Ruel expressed the thought that adding onto BHS for eighth grade would rule out an expansion of the BRCOT.

“I believe maintaining class size is the best for the community,’ said School Committee member Nathan Bean, who talked about exploring an eighth and ninth grade partnership as some schools do, and a fifth to eighth grade school.

Ray also pointed out that both the federal and state government have talked about universal Prekindergarten which will also present space issues.

They noted John F. Kennedy School needs attention, as well.

“To have smaller class sizes we need bigger classrooms,” said Ray. He noted during the pandemic, many children missed daycare and preschool and even though classes resumed in the fall of 2020. He said to give early intervention “a fighting shot,” the smaller classes should remain.

Mayor Alan Casavant, the School Committee ex officio chair, asked what the budgetary impact of smaller classes would be for taxpayers.

Ray said the cost of continuing mentorship is about $400,000 annually.

He said he would like a decision within 1 1/2 months, to get the ball rolling, if there is to be construction. He said the School Committee could walk through the proposed addition location on the BHS campus and look at old existing plans for expansion of the other schools.

“We’ll do some walk throughs, come back and discuss it,” said Ray,

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.