New Woodstock middle school-high school could open as soon as September 2026
Published September 13, 2023 in the Mountain Times
By Polly Mikula
Voters in seven towns will be asked to approve an $80+ million project to build a new district middle/high school adjacent to the current structures in Woodstock at Town Meeting Day this March.
“Slated to open in September 2026, pending voter approval, the new middle and high school campus will support collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking in our students,” states the Mountain Views Supervisory Union (MVSU) on its webpage mtnviews.org/breaking-new-ground.
Woodstock middle school and high school educate students from the district towns of Barnard, Bridgewater, Killington, Plymouth, Pomfret, Reading and Woodstock.
“The facilities are woefully out of date,” said Bob Hager, a 1956 graduate of Woodstock High in a video entitled “Breaking Ground” on the district’s site. “There are some building systems at risk of imminent failure.”
Over the past few years, the school district has been forced to make costly, patchwork repairs that don’t solve the problems long term. Last year, the building’s heating system degraded to the point where the district lost the use of six classrooms and emergency upgrades cost taxpayers $1.2 million, according to the district site.
“The list of expensive repairs needed continues to grow, I think the estimate is around $20-$22 million now, if we were to fix all the major repairs needed,” said WUHS/MS New Build Working Group Chair Ben Ford at the district board meeting, Monday, Sept. 11. “And those are only the ones currently broken,” he added.
“We’ve really pushed this facility as far as we can,” echoed Garon Smail, principal at Woodstock middle/high school in the online video.
According to a 2022 study by the Vermont Dept. of Education, Woodstock’s facilities were ranked the second worst in the state for their physical condition. The study cited many systems failing, including the heating, windows, roof, electrical and plumbing. “This has caused inadequate ventilation, poor acoustics, substandard accessibility, and insufficient safety standards, which have presented significant obstacles to learning and potential health concerns,” the report concluded.
“Our systems in the building here are extremely dated and obsolete,” said Joe Rigoli, district building and grounds manager in the video online. “We’re at the point where most of our systems are beyond repair and are in need of replacement.”
To address those challenges, a facilities analysis and master planning process began in 2016 with input from faculty, staff, students, school board and community members. Over a period of four years, it weighed the cost of renovating vs. building new and concluded that a new facility “would provide the best value.”
“In addition to being more expensive and infeasible, renovation would have a far greater impact on students who would be displaced and disrupted for two to three years while attending school amidst construction,” the district committee stated. “For these reasons and following a facility assessment and options analysis, our school board determined that a new school building is the right choice for our district.”
The new school will be on a different site, located adjacent to the current school building, so classes will continue in the old building until the new building is ready.