The Triton Regional School Committee heard an update May 21 on the middle school/high school building effort: the project's visioning group held its kickoff and district staff submitted enrollment data to the MSPA as the first formal steps.

Matt Landers, chair of the school building committee, said the visioning group's role is to identify educational needs and features the district wants in a new facility before designers are engaged. "This group is very pie in the sky vision... we then have to come back down to earth when we have a designer and we know the price tag," one committee member said, summarizing the distinction between visioning and the later building committee work.

Landers and other members reported that they will visit other schools to study layouts and programmatic components, and that consultants on the visioning team include former local educators who will frame educational priorities for designers. Enrollment figures were submitted to the MSPA two weeks before the meeting, and the district is aiming for an October MSPA meeting to be "welcomed into the next step," which would allow Triton to move quickly toward selecting an owner's project manager (OPM) and a designer by November.

Staff noted a design enrollment target of up to 1,000 students while the current campus enrollment is roughly 845; the district acknowledged that projecting enrollment increases is part of making a compelling case for state participation. The full school building committee is expected to reconvene in July after the visioning visits conclude.

No formal votes were taken on the project at the meeting; the update was informational and committee members discussed next steps and scheduling.