School Building Project
The School Building Project has been a multi-year planning process to address the overcapacity in Scarborough's three K-2 primary schools and the Middle School. A $160M proposed solution failed in a referendum vote in November 2023, and now the Town and Board of Education are working toward a revised solution and approach to meeting the needs of the community.
2024 Project Timeline
New School Building Advisory Committee Formed (February 2024)
The School Building Advisory Committee (SBAC) was formed In February 2024. After the Unified School proposal was rejected by the voters in November 2023, the Town Council and School Board sought to bring the public back into the conversation about a school solution. (View the full charge).
SBAC members are volunteers from the Scarborough community who have brought their expertise and interests to the process. They have been working hand-in-hand with elected officials. View their work at ScarboroughSchoolSolution.org
Town-wide Survey (March -April 2024)
Scarborough commissioned a School Survey to gain better understanding of what residents want to see in a school solution. Survey results were returned in May. These results were used as the committee developed new school options.
Subcommittee Analysis (March-April 2024)
SBAC members divided into subcommittees to study different aspects of school needs and to review and analyze the work of the previous School committee. Subcommittees developed a clear picture of Scarborough’s school needs related to programming and infrastructure; reviewed and updated enrollment projections; analyzed previous financial assumptions; and developed new benchmark costs for future construction. These presentations are available on our Documents page.
Development of New Concepts (May-June)
Following this analysis, the group broke into teams to explore new ideas for a fiscally responsible solution to Scarborough’s school needs. Now the SBAC has developed four exploratory concepts. Their recommendation is to send these four concepts to Phase 2 of the process to be vetted and further developed by professional design and engineering teams. These will be summarized in a final report and presented to the Town Council and Board of Education at the end of June. (View the Presentation
Community Engagement
Chat with an SBAC member.
Phase 2 Begins in Fall 2024
Phase 2 of the School Building process began in October 2024. This phase involves a reconstituted committee, including both members from Phase 1 and new community participants, tasked with collaborating alongside school department staff and qualified consultants. Their mission is to provide recommendations on the preferred concept, site, design, and cost estimates for a viable school solution that can gain voter approval. After a selection process, architectural firm Harriman was selected to lead the project.
Background
In 2023, the Scarborough Board of Education worked with a School Building Committee to develop a solution for the limitations of Scarborough school facilities, including their condition and capacity. What emerged was the "K-8 Strategic Project & New Primary School" project. It was described as "a holistic strategic solution for our K-8 schools to solve facilities inadequacies and inefficiencies by reorganizing grade levels, aligning our student populations, and building a new consolidated primary school that addresses educational equity, operational efficiency, population growth, flexibility, safety & security, and 21st century learning and teaching methods."
The proposed project was brought to the Town Council for approval to have the proposed $160M school project on the November 2023 referendum ballot. The school building project was ultimately rejected in the November 7, 2023 election by a vote of 3,363 Yes and 5,913 No (198 Blanks). The continued issues affecting the schools require ongoing work toward a solution.
Committee Meetings
Meetings are recorded and available to view on the Scarborough Schools YouTube page (view here). The School Calendar lists all meetings and includes links to participate in the meetings via Zoom (view here).
Public Engagement
Council Corner Live (January 25, 2024)
The Town Council held a Council Corner Live, their first in 2024, to have an open discussion around finding a school solution and what it looks like. They were joined by members of the Board of Education and two community facilitators to help guide the exercise, along with about 30 residents in attendance (View complete summary below).
Participants were asked to express their support for the school referendum on a scale of 0-10. They were put into groups based on their scores and listed their reasonings. Groups were then mixed and discussed their recommendations for a new proposal, with ideas like, "Set a budget and then develop a solution at a reasonable cost" and "Keep the community aware of progress along the way at key decision points; chunking information into digestible pieces". At the end of the facilitated session, residents were asked to apply to be on the new School Building Committee if they wanted to continue to be involved.
The Town and School are taking a phased approach to moving a new solution forward. The first iteration of the committee will be to review existing data to identify the need and current situation, and evaluate feedback from a community-wide survey to propose a recommendation to the Town Council and School Board. This Council Corner Live event was in-person only due to the format of the facilitator-led discussion.
Resources
Council Corner Live (January 25, 2024) Meeting Summary
All materials regarding the 2023 project are available on the Scarborough Schools website. This includes infographics, flyers, videos, FAQs, and more.
Contact
Please use the following email addresses to direct any questions, comments, or concerns related to the school building project.
School Building Advisory Committee
sbac@scarboroughschools.org (Sent to all members)
School Building Advisory Committee Leadership
bclt@scarboroughschools.org (Sent to committee leadership only)
Scarborough Town Council
towncouncil@scarboroughmaine.org
April Sither, Chair
asither@scarboroughmaine.org
Board of Education
boe@scarboroughschools.org
Shannon Lindstrom, Chair
slindstrom@scarboroughschools.org