SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — When South Portland's new middle school opens this fall, it will mark a major transition for nearly 1,000 students and teachers who are coming together under one roof.
The city currently has two middle schools: Memorial Middle School and Mahoney Middle School. Memorial Middle School is being demolished, and the city has not yet announced plans for what it will do with Mahoney Middle School.
Grades five through eight will attend the new school. Previously, grade five students were part of the elementary schools.
The new unified middle school will be a "community school," according to Principal Rebecca Stern, who has served as Memorial Middle School's principal for five years. She said the district is partnering with other community organizations to bring services to the school, connect service organizations outside of school with families, and to also provide wraparound support for families.
"Their kids can really focus on learning while they're here," Stern said.
On each floor, locker colors match the paint of the hallways and floor tiles as a method of color-coding, so no one gets lost. The building is not as sprawling as either Memorial or Mahoney; instead, the plan was to build vertically.
The goal was to design a sustainable school. It uses geothermal energy to heat and cool the school. It has solar panels on the roof and sides of the building to generate electricity, but some also hang over the windows to create shade. The roof also has drains to collect rainwater into cisterns that irrigate the athletic fields.
"It's geared for 21st-century learning. It's focused on sustainability. It's one of the best opportunities any superintendent has," South Portland School Department Superintendent Tim Matheney said.
For teachers, it's bittersweet. Kate Porter has been teaching language arts and social studies at Memorial Middle School for the past 19 years. Her 20th year will be in the new school.
"I think it's going to be a harder transition for adults than it is the kids," Porter said. "It's hard to let go, but new beginnings are always great, too."
The benefit to students softens the blow to teachers like Porter. The new space will also include a central hub for student counseling, where providers can collaborate and bring all the services to one location, instead of telling families to drive across town to another school for the help they need.
"It isn't just about their math and their science and their, you know, their core subject. It's looking at the whole child and how to help that whole child learn," mental health provider Ben Tierney-Trevor said, who worked at both middle schools.
Architect Mike Johanning with WBRC said the new school will also have 40 single-use, non-gendered bathrooms for student privacy. He said they designed the building to be able to expand vertically without disrupting learning.
Porter said the physical limitations of Memorial, such as HVAC issues and a sometimes leaky roof, cannot overshadow the friends and memories she has made in her career.
"It was our home, so we were proud of it no matter what," Porter said. "We all realize that it was the people, and the people are all coming with us and we'll always have those memories, and the kids are coming with us and they're really excited about it. It's a new beginning in South Portland."
The school is set to open this fall and will include many physical reminders of Mahoney and Memorial, including repurposing Memorial's gym floor into an art installation. It will be one of three professional installations.
And to pair with the new school, the students have chosen a new mascot: the sharks.