Turowski2 was commissioned to perform a feasibility study to review the existing conditions and develop the program needs for the Raymond E. Shaw School in Millbury, MA; One of two elementary schools serving the town and situated on an over 200-acre site, together with the Elmwood School.  Currently, the programs are divided with Pre-K through Grade 3 in the Elmwood School and Grades 4 - 6 in the Shaw School.  The existing R.E. Shaw School building was originally built as a middle school in 1975. The study considered the option of maintaining the current grade configurations and also relocating Grade 3 to a renovated or replaced Shaw, to address crowding issues in the Elmwood School.  Ultimately, the School Building Committee selected the option for a new building to replace the single story 1975 structure with relocation of Grade 3 to the Shaw School.

The new school is positioned north of the existing school, which will allow continued use of the existing school during construction and the shortest possible overall construction duration.  The new building will be 2 stories, with special needs and flex use spaces located in grade level neighborhoods to promote inclusion through co-teaching and collaboration through a team teaching model.  A central library at the heart of the school, together with the cafetorium and gym, will serve the very popular after school program and other popular and pressing community uses.  At the heart of the Second Floor, two Science/Technology/Engineering rooms are co-located adjacent to the Art Room and outdoor rooftop classrooms.

The site is designed to take advantage of natural landscape elements to extend learning to the outdoors and also a high school regulation size baseball and multi-purpose field, to replace a similar facility being displaced at the High School due to a track/football field expansion there.  This single project addresses current pressing needs at 3 of the district’s school facilities.  The project is designed to meet LEED Gold certification at a minimum and, at the end of schematic design modeling, is estimated to conserve approximately 30% energy use in comparison to a baseline code building of similar size.  The project will be completed in  Fall of 2022.