Designs For Revamped Woodbury Middle School Presented: Salem

SALEM, NH — The School Board has recently reviewed plans for a renovated Woodbury Middle School, which would include a new gymnasium, additional meeting and activity spaces, and a prominent main entrance. Part of the initial design plans are also co-ed locker rooms, where each student would use his or her own individual changing area. Cost estimates for the proposed design are expected this summer.

Current design plans include demolishing some areas of the school and also building new additions. Superintendent Michael Delahanty said the goal is to meet students' educational needs for the 21st-century. Representatives from Lavalee Brensinger Architects presented design ideas for the school at the School Board planning session on May 21.

Lance Whitehead of Lavalee Brensinger Architects said the design team has met with staff and students over the past year, and the design concept aims to address some of the needs they have brought up. Among them is new spaces outside the classroom where teachers can meet one-on-one with students or in small groups. In addition, the plans include flexible-use areas for unified arts, which can be adjusted to be anything from digital design to pottery.

As part of the overall concept, the school would be organized the school into "pods" — unified classroom, meeting and lab spaces for each of the three teams per grade. There would be one story per grade level, with each floor having three team pods.

Architecture of the school would capitalize on natural light and have a more open concept, said Whitehead. The main entrance to the school would be more prominent, with administrative and student support services, including the school resources officer, being located closest to the main entrance.

The current gymnasium would be torn down and a new one would be built in its place. According to Delahanty, the current plans do not include locker rooms separated by gender. He said that the current proposal goes in line with contemporary times, with each student having an individual changing area, but the lockers being located in a co-ed area.

Delahanty said that showers are currently not part of the plans, because school staff have found that students, middle-schoolers especially, do not tend to shower at school, even after physical education class. In instances of school sports, most athletes wait to shower until they get home, he said.

The School Board is expected to discuss the Woodbury School designs at future meetings. According to Delahanty, cost estimates for the current proposal are expected in the next month and a half. If the estimates end up being too high, the board can look to downsize the design or reconsider its needs and wants, he said.

Whitehead said current issues at the Woodbury Middle School include cracking and corrosion near the surface of the building.

He said the current school is 130,000 square feet, while the proposed goal is 158,000 square feet.