LEWISTON — It doesn’t have a name yet. It’s called “the new school.”
If approved, the school will cost either $49 million or $52 million to build. The $49 million school would be funded completely by the state, the $52 million school would require $2.1 million from Lewiston taxpayers to add a regulation-size gym, air conditioning for summer programs and a second turf field for high school students.
The school would merge this city’s Martel and Longley elementary schools. It would house 880 students, pre-kindergarten through sixth grade: 420 from Longley, 335 from Martel and another 125 from other schools to help relieve overcrowding at all elementary schools.
Proposed for a site near Lewiston High School, if approved by voters the new school will have 48 classrooms and smaller rooms for individualized lessons, a nurse’s office, a cafeteria, a stage and a large library.
If voters OK the extra funding, there will be a big gym for the big kids and a small gym for “the littles,” as they are called by Longley Principal Kristie Clark.
Outside will be two playgrounds and a school garden. Inside, students will be able to look out classroom windows and see green grass and trees that line the walking path, uncommon views from the two inner-city schools.
Principals: Big school will have community feel
The two leaders of the proposed new school — Clark and Martel Principal Stephen Whitfield — are planning the new facility. Top goals: Make a big school feel small and use all of its resources to provide an even better education for students.
Walking through the door in 2019, “you’ll first see the library, the heart of the building,” Clark said. “The library will be an inviting place where kids and teachers feel excited about reading.”
The school will be designed to give a welcoming feel, Clark said. “Because of its size, we’re making every effort to make it feel like a community.”
As designed, the school will have two floors of classrooms, each with wings for specific age groups.
On the first floor near the entrance will be the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten wing; nearby will be the grades 1 and 2 wing. Upstairs will be the grades 3 and 4 wing as well as the grades 5 and 6 wing.
That design will help the school not be overwhelming to students, Whitfield said.
“The total number of children on the playground at any given time won’t be different than Longley or Martel,” he said. “The total number of children at lunch won’t be any different. It might be smaller. The total number of children in classes will be smaller than at Martel.”
Teachers will know the students, both said. “The challenge will be for administrators and secretaries,” Whitfield said. “My secretary knows every kid now. It’ll take her longer to know 880.”
Classrooms will be at one end of the school, at the other end will be the cafeteria, kitchen and gyms. The class part of the school can be locked at night to allow public use of the gym and cafeteria.
Diverse student body
The new school’s student community will be different from what many of the students are used to. Martel students will see more girls wearing hijabs and skirts, more black children. Longley students will see more white children.
Experts say the mix will be better for both populations, with each benefiting and learning from the other.
At Longley, English Language Learners make up 60 percent of the student population; at Martel, only 13 percent. Most of Lewiston’s ELL students are from Somali families.
The new school’s ELL mix is projected to be 33 percent, closer to the overall city percentage of 25.8 percent and more in line with what students experience at the middle and high schools.
When it comes to learning opportunities, students from both schools will benefit from the merger, Clark and Whitfield said.
For Martel, the new school will mean more space and fewer students packed into classrooms.
Martel school is so full, so out of room, that on a recent afternoon Clark and Whitfield met in a tiny room in the basement, about the size of a closet, with a big white pipe running overhead. The space is Martel’s music teacher’s “office.”
Whitfield’s office wasn’t available because it was being used for a student evaluation meeting, he said.
Martel has no art or music room. “We’re not ADA approved,” Whitfield said. “We have no gym. We’re the only school left (in Lewiston) with a combination (gym and cafeteria).”
That limits gym classes. During the middle of the day workers have to set up tables for lunch, serve lunch, then take down tables for gym.
For years Martel’s student population was around 250, what the school should hold. “Today we have 335 students. We’ve gone to three lunch periods instead of two,” Whitfield said. The increase has also meant more students in classrooms.
“For the last decade we’ve had high numbers in all of our classes because we do not have any place to add classrooms,” Whitfield said.
For Longley, the new school will mean more space, more programs and less separation.
For instance, Longley doesn’t have music classrooms. And the new school will offer a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) lab that neither school has.
“We’re very excited about that,” Clark said. The STEM program will be geared for students in grades three to six, but all teachers will be able to access it.
The additional space will allow more enrichment programs and programs for special needs students who are now sent to other schools. Those children “will stay in school with their neighborhood peers,” Clark said.
Another perk is that Martel and Longley won’t be sharing art and physical education teachers. That will make a huge difference, Whitfield said. “They won’t be rushing off to someplace. They’ll be here. They’ll be part of the community.”
bwashuk@sunjournal.com
What: Proposed new elementary school to replace aging Martel Elementary School and relieve overcrowding in other Lewiston elementary schools. New school population would be 880; 335 from Martel; 420 from Longley and 125 more from other schools.
Informational meeting and unofficial straw poll vote on the new school will take place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 23, at Lewiston High School. The straw vote is required by the state to gauge community support.
A citywide binding referendum is scheduled for June 14.
What will the school cost property taxpayers? If Lewiston builds a school with a small gym and no air conditioning, the cost will be zero. The state will pay for it all. If voters want to spend $2.1 million more for a regulation-size gym, air conditioning for summer programs and a second artificial-turf field for high school students, the cost to a Lewiston taxpayer with a $150,000 home is estimated to be an additional $9 a year in property tax.
If approved, the school would open in 2019, built on an existing football field near Lewiston High School; the state would build new, replacement athletic fields.
For more information: https://sites.google.com/a/lewistonpublicschools.org/lewiston-s-new-elementary-school/home
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