Present: All members, School Board Liaison P. McGrath, Superintendent J. O'Neil, Community Development Director J. Minkarah, MMS Principal Dee Gould and MMS Principal Tom Levesque
S. Heinrich called the meeting to order at 7 PM and introduced the committee members and various guests.
S. Heinrich asked J. Minkarah to discuss various properties in town that the district might consider for building a new school. Several pieces of property were discussed along with potential for developments. J. Minkarah did note that a problem with Buker is that people do not know what is part of Buker and what is not. However, he also noted that sewer and water are now closer to Buker which would reduce costs to develop the site. He also indicated that the town has a warrant articles to purchase two pieces of property adjacent to Buker: one for a new fire station and one for conservation purposes. He noted that the town usually issues an average of 100 building permits a year and that permits are usually pulled as built and most buildings are pre-sold. He indicated that the economy is a key factor in housing vacancy rates, especially in the large complexes. There is often a 25 - 40 % vacancy in multi-family housing. He noted that all towns must accommodate their fair share of area growth and that some area towns have tried growth management ordinances or building moratoriums but they may not stand up if challenged in court. He noted that another possibility is to declare a temporary emergency until the town has the infrastructure in place to accommodate the growth. Finally, he noted that there are only a couple of major projects currently in the planning stages.
J. O'Neil shared population projections provided by NESDEC in addition to the figures provided by the NH School Boards Association. He noted that the total school population will be between 4,800 - 5,000 over the next five years. He indicated that the district has just gone through a growth spurt. He also discussed the population shift between the north and south ends of town. He indicated that the center of town has remained fairly consistent. Another space problem the district is facing is the need to provide space for Art, Music, Computers, SPED and other ancillary programs. He noted that MMS has twelve new rooms and the population there should remain fairly consistent. The addition at MHS will meet their needs for 5 - 10 years. When asked for the educational direction the district is taking, he indicated the need to include kindergarten. He said we are one of only three towns in the area that does not offer public kindergarten. T. Koenig asked if he could demonstrate ways that public kindergarten could positively impact the public school education offered in Merrimack. J. O'Neil responded by explaining that the first grade teachers are not dealing with a consistent product during the first months of 1st grade and spend much educational time bringing all students to some level of similarity. He also indicated that the state 50% reimbursement for kindergarten will run out June, 2002 which means a building program would have to be passed in March, 2001 and built by June, 2002. He noted that potentially 85% of all children eligible for public kindergarten would attend or approximately 325 - 350 students which would mean the need for 10 - 12 classrooms. Further, he noted that the current adequacy grant will generate money for kindergarten students. It was noted that a waiver would be needed to build space that would be used for grades other than kindergarten as long as the same number of classrooms built were used for kindergarten in other buildings. J. O'Neil made several suggestions for solving the current space situation:
He noted that programs, grade alignments can be administered as the district population requires. He said that redistricting would upset 500 - 600 parents. He told the committee to give him space, get kindergarten and let him administer it. Further, he indicated that the need for a school is toward the western part of town, i.e. Buker area. He said a new school should contain both an APR and a full size gym and the cost of a new elementary would probably be 9 - 10 million dollars. He told the committee when determining building capacity, the number of students per room varies by grade and the SPED needs must be considered. When asked how to sell a new elementary when projections show that elementary enrollments will be dropping, he suggested using kindergarten and the reimbursement program. He noted that a new high school might be needed at buildout, but Buker is not conducive to a high school. However, some other building possibilities may give the district the option to relocate both the current superintendent�s and SPED offices which might result in space which would allow another addition to the high school.
D. Gould presented the Merrimack High School (MHS) story. She indicated that last year NESDEC suggested the maximum capacity of MHS as 1,100 - 1,200 students. She told the committee that the cafeteria has a capacity of about 550, not including the addition and possibly 600 with the additional space. The current population at MHS is 1,502 students. She noted that lunches run for 24 - 30 minutes. The staff has changed the lunch line procedure and offerings to speed up service. She indicated a need for "space with water." She told the committee the high school is a comprehensive high school offering the arts as well as technology. She indicated the need for a community auditorium. She discussed alternate arrangements for assigning students: houses, clusters, by grade, etc. She indicated she liked the current centralized administration arrangement. She was asked about the possible need for a third assistant principal which she indicated she has requested. Her suggestion regarding grade alignment was to leave the current 9 - 12 grade arrangement. She noted that some towns put the 9th grade into a separate facility, but she did not prefer this option.
T. Levesque told the committee that Mastricola Middle School (MMS) has a population of 1,244 and is projected to have 1,335 students next year. Space, both classroom and storage, is a major concern at MMS. He told the committee that the addition had provided 12 classrooms, but did not include bathrooms or storage space. He indicated that currently the speciality areas are utilized above the state maximum standards. The addition basically added the equivalent of another house the MMS, but another house would have required a total of 15 new rooms and 15 additional staff. In order to meet the needs of the 6th grade next year, he is proposing a small pod of 75 students with 3 new teachers. He noted that he may have to put some things on wheels. The lunch room has 34 tables @ 16 students per table for a capacity of about 480 - 544 students. Each grade had its own lunch period. In addition, T. Levesque has worked with the food service director to provide food choices that are quickly and easily served to ensure that all students are served in the time allotted. He noted that the ideal middle school would be 600 - 700 students. He noted that student safety is at greater risk the larger the school becomes. He told the committee that, in order to meet curriculum needs, MMS had adopted a nine day schedule. Students have specialty subjects six of every nine days and P.E. three of every nine days. When asked about grade alignments, he indicated the biggest problem is transitions. He felt the number of times a student needs to change schools should be minimized. He noted that the most common middle school scenario is grade 6 - 8. Other arrangements are usually based on space need rather than educational benefits. Adding 5th grade to the middle may have some advantages or having MES 5th grade only or 5 -6 might mean that MMS could share some auxiliary spaces. T. Levesque ended his presentation by pointing out the great need for storage space.He also noted that MMS currently hosts town/school district meetings/elections and stores most of the equipment utilized for them. He suggested the need for a large centralized storage area at the middle school.
On a motion from M. Morrison, seconded by T. Koenig, the committee voted to adjourn at 10:20 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Last Updated: July 16, 2000 by Wayne Morrison