The Scarborough School Building Advisory Committee will rely on community feedback in early 2025 to help them narrow four potential solutions to the district’s overcrowded schools to two.

“Public involvement in the building committee’s process is essential to getting a solution that reflects Scarborough’s diverse needs and priorities,” said school board Chair Shannon Lindstrom.

Harriman Architects has been collecting data, assessing existing conditions, reviewing past reports and working closely with the committee to analyze the four concepts developed in Phase 1 of the process. Those options are building a fourth primary school; building a new school for Grades 2 and 3; preserving the primary and middle schools via additions; and building a new K-3 school.

The committee is scheduled to meet next on Monday, Jan. 6, ahead of a joint workshop with the Town Council and school board for a status update on Jan. 16.

The committee also plans to hold a community forum on Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. at the middle school cafeteria. There, attendees can learn more about the four options and ask questions and provide feedback. A community survey will be released in late January, offering another way to give input.

“When everyone has a voice in the process, the result is a school that truly serves its students, families, employees and community members now and into the future,” Lindstrom said.

Earlier plans for a new school to alleviate overcrowding in the district’s schools were voted down in November 2023, when residents rejected a controversial $160 million K-3 unified school project designed to modernize and address crowding issues in the town’s schools.

That project would have consolidated three primary schools and all third-graders into one new building, moved sixth-graders into Wentworth School and renovated Scarborough Middle School.

The proposal would have removed the 30 portable classrooms, with 18 at K-2 schools and 12 at the middle school. Sixth graders have been going to school in portables for nearly 20 years.

Those in favor called the school proposal a cost-effective solution, while others felt it was too expensive and the school building was too large, as it was designed to fit nearly 1,150 students.

For more information on the School Building Advisory Committee, including a full meeting calendar, go to scarboroughschools.org/building-project.