Moose Hill Building Project
March 12th, 2024 Vote
Londonderry's Most Pressing School Building Need
Click Info Graphic Below for Details
12 5 2023 Main Infographic.pdfFor more detailed information on these three topics of the Moose Hill building project please check out the following infographics below.
Overcrowding Infographic Dec 2023.pdfOvercrowding Infographic
Released on Dec. 14, 2023
Cost and Financing Infographic Dec 2023.pdfCost and Financing Infographic
Released on Dec. 14, 2023
Full Day Kindergarten Infographic Dec 2023.pdfFull Day Kindergarten Infographic
Released on Dec. 14, 2023
Why is Moose Hill Our Most Pressing Need as a District?
1#
We don't have enough space right now for all our current programs for our 3-,4- and 5-year-old students.
We don't have enough space right now for all our current programs for our 3-,4- and 5-year-old students.
2#
We have fallen behind the rest of the New Hampshire and the Country in providing Full Day Kindergarten as an option for our students.
We have fallen behind the rest of the New Hampshire and the Country in providing Full Day Kindergarten as an option for our students.
Our mandated special education programs outgrew Moose Hill's original designs back in 2018.
We need to renovate 7 classrooms/learning spaces and add 15 more learning spaces- therapy spaces and offices for current students and staff to fit.
We studied our enrollment patterns and asked for a review and projection of our enrollment over the next 10 years to make sure the Moose Hill Building Project met both our current and future needs.
We project Kindergarten enrollment from 250 to 270 students a year over the next decade while the overall enrollment in the district K to 12 is projected to be stable between 3900 to 4100 students.
Please click on the link for the full NESDEC study on enrollment completed in the Fall of 2023.
The Moose Hill Building project provides the room we need for our mandated pre-school programs, mandated special education programs in kindergarten, and allows us to provide a full day kindergarten program as well.
Right now we cannot fit in Moose Hill with about 130 preschool students and 100 to 130 kindergarteners (depending on yearly enrollment).
On I-Ready testing, our local assessment choice for grades 1 to 8; our 1st grade students are consistently behind NH and National outcomes. This is the only grade level we fall behind state and national outcomes. We need more time to build a stronger academic and social foundation for our students in 1st grade and beyond.
We would need to add 11 more classrooms and a cafeteria/gym to house a Full Day Kindergarten program.
Although we perform better than the state and national trends on i-Ready, we want to do better on our other public facing data - the NH State Assessment. We believe this additional time in Kindergarten will help move our numbers in the coming years along with other curriculum and organizational updates. See the Literacy and Math Summaries Below.
The preschool program LEEP grows in the number of students over any school year because once a child turns 3 they are eligible to join the program. Below we tracked our LEEP enrollment in both October and June over the last 35 years. What you can see below is that LEEP has doubled in size over the last two decades which has certainly contributed to our space issues and needs at Moose Hill right now.
What will the Moose Hill Project Cost?
Other Costs Figures to Know
Initial interest payment in the first year: $850,000
Ongoing payment with 20 year bond and 4.25% interest rate: $2.6M yearly payment
Average yearly tax impact: $0.41
If the Moose Hill Project is approved - 3 school years later we would need to add additional staff for Full Day Kindergarten at a net cost of $302k to the operating budget. Based on current spending for gas and electricity we also project an increase of $47K in operating costs each year when the additions are completed.
Frequently asked Questions on the Moose Hill Building Project:
1) Is this the most fiscally responsible option to provide full day Kindergarten?
Yes. We studied putting full day kindergarten in the other three elementary schools. The costs would be greater because we would need to: (1) update older buildings to make 1000 square feet kindergarten classrooms. (Non Kindergarten classrooms are typically 900 square feet) (2) update older buildings to have bathrooms attached for the Kindergarten students (3) build at three separate sites at the same time to provide full day Kindergarten to the three areas of town at the same time.
2) Can we move the Pre-School Program out of Moose Hill to make room for full day Kindergarten?
We could move the preschool out of Moose Hill, but it would cost us more money to provide those mandated services (capital and operating budget costs) If we have a 3 or 4 year old that has been identified to receive special education services, we are required by law to provide those services. We would still need to build those six classrooms onto an existing school or buy new land for it. Adding to our older buildings will be more expensive than new construction because of the size of the classroom and the need and bathrooms in the preschool. Those are the increased capital costs. Right now, we are able to share special education staff in the preschool and kindergarten between all the programs. Moving the preschool out of the building would require us to reproduce new staff into a new school site. That would increase our operating costs as well.
3) What would a schedule look like in a Full Day Kindergarten versus a Half Day Program?
Below is a link to explain how much more time a full day kindergarten would provide in literacy, math and other subjects as well as new programs that could start with a full day program. Visual Representation of Full Day Schedule
The Kindergarten Committee created an FAQ Document in the Winter of 2023 that you can access below. The following questions are answered in that document as well:
4) You say that full-day kindergarten is needed to close gaps and to support all students as they enter first grade but isn’t it true that children will catch up developmentally to on another on their own by the time they get to the later elementary grades?
5) Kindergarten is subsidized childcare. There is no structured curriculum; it’s more for socializing kids. Why should taxpayers pay for a full-day kindergarten program?
6) I have a Lancer that is attending a great university. He/she attended Moose Hill, 1⁄2 Day program, why is Full Day K necessary? What’s the problem?
7) I don’t want my child to attend Full Day Kindergarten because I think it is too long of a day. Will I be required to send my child to full day kindergarten?
8) How are we going to staff a Full Day Kindergarten? Do the assistants really need to be there?
9)We could be heading into a recession. Inflation is high, interest rates just went up, taxes just went up, maybe we should wait. Is now the best time to design full-day kindergarten for our community?