PLAISTOW — Enrollment at Timberlane Regional middle and high schools will decrease by at least 20 percent in the next 10 years. But taxpayers will still need to replace or renovate both schools.
Cramped quarters and outdated technology resulted in the New England School Development Council's recommendation to either renovate and add on to both schools, or to rebuild one and remodel the other. The high school was built 42 years ago, the middle school 35 years ago.
Both schools have been renovated three times, most recently in 2000, but neither is up to modern standards, according to the council.
The report suggests the district seek land to buy for athletic fields and a second access road to the Greenough Road complex in the near future. The building project could be a more long-term plan.
There are no cost estimates for the three options put forth by the $22,000 study, which was conducted last month. Superintendent Richard La Salle could not be reached yesterday to discuss the report.
School Board Chairman William Baldwin did not return phone calls and other board members either could not be reached or deferred comment to him.
There are 1,111 students enrolled in the middle school this year, according to the report. By the 2017-2018 school year, that figure could be down to 823, based on trends in birth rates, home sales and building permits in the district's four towns — Atkinson, Danville, Plaistow and Sandown. At the high school, enrollment could drop from 1,567 to 1,238 students over the same period, according to the report.
Middle school Principal Mike Hogan said yesterday he doesn't think enrollments will drop that dramatically. But either way, his school is too small for the number of students it serves.
"Here's the difficulty: Many of our hallways are very narrow and passing 1,100 kids from class to class and around the building is difficult," Hogan said. "And we have to use every available space, like I said. The changing nature of education just makes it more challenging."
To keep up with 21st century educational programs, the report calls for both schools to expand and update libraries and create labs for science and other new programs.
The high school has two new science labs, which were built over the summer for $500,000. The labs are one of a few issues the council had with the schools that the district had already tried to address.
All doors were equipped with locks in the summer of 2007, and a new traffic pattern and dismissal times were implemented this year. But the report still calls for less congestion and more security.
The district still is waiting for results of an architectural study of the buildings, which La Salle previously said should tell whether the buildings can be renovated or need to be rebuilt, when, and some cost estimates.
Both studies will be used for strategic planning this fall, and to begin budgeting for the future.
