Due to overcrowding over the years modular classrooms have had to be added to Scarborough’s primary schools, including this school year at Eight Corners. Michael Kelley / The Forecaster
SCARBOROUGH — The Scarborough School Board is pressing the Town Council members to move forward with the kindergarten through second school project.
At a town workshop meeting held on Aug. 17, councilors said that Scarborough’s three K-2 schools have reached a crisis stage because of overcrowding. The current infrastructure does not support the students’ basic educational needs.
If the town does nothing about the issue the overcrowding will continue, according to the presentation. The school is already out of room to add more portables, while trying to provide site circulation, parking and play area. The existing K-2 schools, without portables are collectively undersized for their current K-2 population by approximately 40,000 to 60,000 square-feet.
Many portable have been added to the schools since they were built, school officials said. Pleasant Hill, built in 1957, had two portables added in 2001, over 21 years ago. Eight Corners, built in 1959, had four portables added in 2001. Blue Point, which was built in 1965, also had four portables added in 2001, and then two more in 2008. All three schools received additions in 1993.
“We’ve been able to make it work,” Councilor Jon Anderson said. “But to me, it seems like we’re there; we’re at the crisis stage. We have to do something. We need to do it now.”
The School Board proposed a goal of completing the construction in time for the 2027-28 school year. For that to happen, the board would need to put the project to a town-wide vote by November 2023, and begin construction the coming year, finishing by June 2027.
The goal is to consolidate the three primary schools as part of a K-8 strategic solution, remove all 30 district portables, alleviate overcrowding at the middle school, and coordinate and align the project with other community initiatives and the comprehensive town plan.
“I think it is important to point out that the facility’s needs, K-8, these are not new problems a lot of our buildings in particular K-2 and at the middle school we have already exceeded the capacity of our existing schools,” said Superintendent Geoff Bruno at the previous meeting. “Our current infrastructure does not support basic educational needs for our students, and we need a sustainable solution to house our current population and likely enrollment to grow in the future.”
On Monday, June 6, Scarborough Town Council held a virtual community forum presentation on the K-8 Strategic Project and New Primary School. The meeting was a follow-up to the first community forum held on May 11. The meeting focused on education and visioning for a new primary school in Scarborough.
The third community forum is scheduled for Oct.12. There will be both day and evening events.
For more information, check out the project website https://www.scarboroughschools.org/new-sps-building-project
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