Between a white rock, a hard case
Gorham taxpayers, parents and educators have some tough decisions on the horizon concerning the town’s schools, and, as teachers and students at White Rock School have, they need to think creatively about what the best solution will be for meeting the town’s long-term needs.
As the town continues to grow in population, the additional students will force the school department to continually look at how to best use its buildings, especially those built years ago when the town was a much smaller, rural community. Parents and taxpayers should learn what they can about crowding at the town’s schools and, if possible, get involved, because, ultimately, whatever happens will affect their children and their tax bills.
To do our part, American Journal Staff Writer Robert Lowell toured the White Rock School last week to investigate problems at the building that have led the School Committee to form a committee to work on a project that would correct them.
He found that the school clearly does have some serious problems. For starters, it’s the most crowded school in the state when its population is compared to the building’s square footage.
The town built the school in 1962 to serve a maximum of 87 students from kindergarten through eighth-grade. Even though the school now serves only students in kindergarten through second-grade, the school department is now sending 140 students there. That’s why the school has been relying on portable classrooms for 18 years.
Despite that, the school is still only No. 10 on a list of schools throughout the state that are most in need of improvement, which demonstrates how large some of the problems at schools in this state are. The state is now working on only the top seven schools on the list.
The work of the committee will likely be guided by the type of project – renovating the school or building a new one – the state decides it will pay for. The committee will want to make sure, however, that the solution the state comes up with will suit the town’s long-term needs.
It’s worth noting that the town renovated the high school in 1996 to hold a maximum of 780 students. With approximately 900 students, the school has already exceeded its capacity.
The X-factor in this equation is Little Falls. The sewer line running out Route 237 is bound to bring a residential housing boom to that area, which now has a small school that is used only by the recreation department.
The committee shouldn’t be afraid to get creative. The school certainly hasn’t. Because the cafeteria is far too small for the number of kids attending school there, many of them carry their lunch trays back to their classrooms. To get to the cafeteria, two classes of second-graders have to crawl through a gate, erected to stop drivers from cutting between the school and the portable classrooms.
“They’re good at it,” said Patty LaRosa, a second-grade teacher.
We bet they are. However, unless the school is using the building as a tool to teach the kids creative problem solving, it’s probably not a practice teachers will want to continue indefinitely.
The state’s help will be essential to coming up with a cost effective solution. The town just dedicated a new $20 million middle school three years ago. It’s in the middle of a $7 million project that will turn the old Shaw School into a town hall. To get an idea of what this project might cost, a similar elementary school project in Portland now carries a price tag of about $11 million.
The participation of parents, teachers and taxpayers will be essential in coming up with a project that will fit the needs of students and the town.
Brendan Moran, editor
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