WESTBROOK – In response to an enrollment study completed in June, the Westbrook School Department will take up a discussion on the results with the Westbrook City Council, at a meeting Monday, Sept. 29.
The study, completed in June by Portland-based Planning Decisions for $2,700, was commissioned by the school department to take a long-term look at school populations through the next 10 years.
Superintendent of Schools Marc Gousse said Tuesday that he plans to make a presentation on the enrollment study findings, and open a dialogue on how population growth could affect Westbrook school facilities.
The department closed Prides Corner Elementary due to mold and other ongoing issues in 2011, and last year, opened a portable classroom at Saccarappa Elementary School in response to a recent growth of roughly 20 students at the school.
In June, Gousse said that Westbrook Middle School, which has an unfinished third floor wing that could potentially add six additional classrooms, had also been using common spaces for instruction and projects.
He added that the expectation is that the current enrollment number of roughly 2,500 will grow, although minimally, in each of the coming years.
“We need to make sure we plan for the capacity,” Gousse said Tuesday. “We don’t have room to grow.
While Gousse said many schools are not over capacity now, some, like Saccarappa, are at capacity, which requires the need to begin to look at options for expansion.
“The ethnicity has changed and the needs of our school have changed,” he said, referring to growth the city has seen in an increasingly racially diverse population.
City Administrator Jerre Bryant said last week that any expansion projects, if deemed necessary, would most likely need to be locally funded, especially considering the school department closed a school only three years ago. However, Bryant said, he agreed with the department’s decision to close Prides Corner given the ongoing problems.
Gousse said the talks need to take place now, due to long timelines associated with these projects. He said the earliest they may see a project come to fruition would be close to four years.
In May, the school department vowed to work more closely with city officials following clashes about the 2014-15 budget. Their agreement called for monthly finance review meetings between the city and school department, and monthly “communications” meetings, to include the council president, School Committee chairman, superintendent and city administrator.
So far, none of these sessions have been convened, and Monday marks the first meeting between the groups since that time.
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