Project & Timeline

Lamoille Union Middle and High School and Green Mountain Technology & Career Center (GMTCC) opened in September 1967, and were constructed as the result of consolidating three smaller middle and high schools in the area.

In 2001, Lamoille Union built a new 51,000-square-foot middle school.  In 2007, GMTCC was fully renovated and additional square footage was added through the construction of an off-site forestry campus bringing the Lamoille Union Campus' total square footage to over 76,000.

Today, Lamoille North is home to roughly 1,800 students spread across five elementary schools, one middle school, one high school, and GMTCC.  The Lamoille Union Campus itself houses around 1,000 students spread across the three facilities.

The educational landscape across Vermont and the nation continues to evolve and so must the offerings Lamoille North has available to our students, staff, and communities.  Our schools serve as the heart of the six communities that make up Lamoille North.  We work to educate and inspire the next generation of leaders, and our work is enriched by the support we receive from Cambridge to Eden to Hyde Park and every one of our towns in between.

To stay competitive with neighboring school districts, to offer our students what they need and what they expect of us, and to continue to be a sought-after employer by the best and brightest in public education, Lamoille North must push for progress.  The Cricket Hill Project allows us to reach these goals.  

The Cricket Hill Project helps us address important gaps the district has faced for some time. The project adds much-needed instructional space, corrects several infrastructure issues at the Lamoille Union Campus, expands the opportunities for our students, and adds important resources to our Lamoille North communities. 

The Cricket Hill Project adds over 18,000 square feet of new education and staff space for Lamoille North. This is on top of a state-of-the-art track and field facility which will act as a new athletic hub on Cricket Hill.

This project is being brought to life by our communities FOR our communities.  The Cricket Hill expansion will enhance our schools, elevate the health and wellness access for Lamoille County, and will further unify our communities. 

The Cricket Hill project solves important and overdue deficiencies across multiple district buildings.  The upgrades all tie back to the most important pillars of Lamoille North: Health & Wellness, Accessibility, Program Investments, and Community.

Health, Wellness & Safety:

• A new district track enhances the health and wellness opportunities for our entire Lamoille North community.  This dedicated space will be a welcome addition for our students, will be heavily used by Lamoille North staff, and will become a community resource for anyone looking for a place to walk, run, and exercise. These new facilities will enhance the already successful and frequently-used Cricket Hill walking, mountain biking, cross-country running and skiing trails.

• In 2017, the drives and walks on the Lamoille Union campus were considered near end-of-life.  To keep that year's gymnasium bond cost down, it was decided to remove them (the drives and walks) from the project scope.  Six years later, we are finding a large increase in potholes and sidewalk cracks.  These pose trip and fall hazards to our students, staff, and visitors.

• Roof issues, including leaks, at the GMTCC facility have grown more frequent and can often result in mold issues impacting life safety and indoor air quality.

• Moving staff to a new district facility built to modern codes will pull them out of an old space that has dealt with bad air quality and mold issues.

• A new district office space will become a more safe and secure secondary evacuation site for the Lamoille Union campus.

Space, Storage & Accessibility

• A dedicated performing arts space will allow for more day-to-day access to the main auditorium stage for students, which currently acts as a classroom for the dance program.

• Track and field athletes do not have consistent access to needed resources. Currently, the team practices and trains on the campus sidewalks and parking lots. These student-athletes only get minimal access to a track (thanks to an agreement with People's Academy), but transportation is needed and People's Academy student-athletes have priority access of course.

• A new district office space will allow the current administrative building to become much-needed cold storage. This will also result in cost savings for Lamoille North, which currently rents several storage units.

• The current district administrative building is not ADA-compliant. The new office space will be built with accessibility at the forefront.

Program Investments

• Thanks to dedicated coaches and students, Lamoille Union's Performing Arts programs (Theater, Chorus, Band) have seen tremendous growth and success. These important offerings allow our students to express their creativity in a space built for their use.  Unfortunately, the three groups currently compete for limited time on the auditorium stage because of a lack of dedicated practice space.  An auxiliary practice space will allow these programs ample space and time to practice.

• The creation of a dedicated Early Education Center (with its own specific entrances and parking) expands the offerings of GMTCC and opens another career pathway for Lamoille North students and those of sending schools. Additionally, this Early Education space will help to support community members who struggle to find childcare in our region.

• The establishment of a Vermont Principals Association (VPA) sanctioned track and field facility would give Lamoille North the ability to host official high school meets. This facility would put our student-athletes on a level playing field with their peers across Vermont.  As with our Performing Arts programs, the Lamoille Union Track and Field program has grown and continues to succeed with lackluster facilities.  With a new track and field, our student-athletes could truly flourish.

Building Improvements

• New roofs will extend the longevity of the Lamoille Union campus, saving the district from future, and typically more costly, projects.

• New campus sidewalks will be built to current accessibility standards,  ensuring our buildings are open and safe for all.

• A new district administrative office will be constructed to modern codes and with energy efficiency in mind, reducing the long-term costs to Lamoille North taxpayers.

Community Collaboration

• As with all Lamoille North facilities, these improvements and investments are, and will always be, community assets.  Our schools are the heartbeat of our communities. These investments only help us to reach more community members by providing a central gathering place for all.

• The track and field facility will become the new anchor of Cricket Hill which already offers a growing network of walking, mountain biking, cross-country running and skiing trails.  Aside from sporting events, practices, or other district activities, the track will be usable by community members year-round.

• Similarly, this new track facility will support our partners,other local schools (NVU-Johnson, for example), and other local organizations in need of access to health and wellness facilities.

The Lamoille North Cricket Hill Project is anchored by six major elements:

Cricket Hill Track & Field Facility

A key element of the Cricket Hill Project is a new varsity-competition-certified track and field facility which will level the playing field for our student-athletes and expand the health and wellness offerings for our schools and communities. The track facility will feature a six-lane, rubberized track; dedicated jumping pits for the high, long, and triple jumps; and space for all throwing events including javelin, discus, and shot put.

Dedicated athletic locker rooms and public restrooms will be located in a new district office space located adjacent to the athletic fields. Similarly, a new equipment storage building will support our student-athletes year-round (track & field, cross-country running, Nordic skiing) as well as our student clubs and extracurricular activities.

These features will act as the new anchor of the Cricket Hill athletic hub which currently includes the Cricket Hill trail system (walking, mountain biking, cross-country running & skiing).

Lamoille Union Performing Arts Space

Space is always a premium for schools and school districts. At Lamoille North, our growing Band, Chorus, and Dance programs compete for performance and practice space; that is why a dedicated Performing Arts Center is another key piece of the Cricket Hill Project.

This space would be built in the alcove between the high school and middle school next to the current auditorium. This space will allow for more flexibility in our 430-seat auditorium, expanding the public's ability to use the main stage.  The Performing Arts Center will reduce the Band, Chorus, and Dance programs competition for the main stage for practice time; and the new space will act as a second venue for smaller-scale student performances.

Auxiliary space will support a dressing room for performers and additional storage for set pieces, props, and instruments.

Lamoille North Early Education Center

There is a deficit of childcare and early education opportunities across Vermont. The Cricket Hill Project includes the creation of a 40-student Early Education Center that would be managed by Green Mountain Technology & Career Center students (guided by a GMTCC teacher) as part of a new early education and teaching program offered by GMTCC.

This space will include dedicated learning, play, and exploration areas, will have food-prep space; and specially-designed bathrooms for Pre-Kindergarten students.

While this Early Education Center would be housed in the same building as a new district administrative space, the Early Education Center will have its own dedicated parking and entrance for parents and families.

The addition of this space to the Cricket Hill Project helps to address a growing lack of child care across the region and helps to make Lamoille North a more competitive employer and workspace.  Child care is an area of concern for our communities, and this project helps to alleviate that challenge in the Lamoille Valley.

Lamoille Union High School Bathroom Renovation

Other than small, surface-level changes, the bathrooms at Lamoille Union High School have not been updated since the building's original construction in 1966.  The updated design of two (2) sets of bathrooms in the high school will increase access to bathroom facilities, will reduce the amount of time students spend congregating in them; will reduce issues like vaping and vandalism; and will lessen the amount of time high school staff needs to spend monitoring these areas.

Lamoille North Administrative Office Space

For years, some of the Lamoille North administrative teams have been housed in a converted single-family home. The 45-year-old building has been through several rounds of mold remediation and 'band-aid' fixes to address air-quality issues. Additionally, because of the building's size, members of the administrative team have needed to be housed in three separate Lamoille North schools.

Bringing all of these team members back under one roof opens up important space in our schools and increases the ability for Lamoille North leadership to collaborate and support the great work across our school community.

Building Enhancements

Rounding out the Cricket Hill Project are equally important enhancements to the Lamoille Union Campus. The project includes resurfacing the crumbling sidewalks and parking lots surrounding the high school, middle school and GMTCC; the build-out of a new classroom in the middle school to support the expansion of the school's health and wellness team; and improvements to GMTCC's roof, which has seen an increase in leaks and has required additional time and resources from the facilities staff.

Lamoille North prides itself on keeping our facilities and resources in good working order thanks again in large part to the thoughtfulness of our facilities team; however, these building enhancements are needed, and the time is now to make them happen.  

Due to historic flooding that impacted communities throughout Vermont, including several Lamoille North towns, the Lamoille North Supervisory Union & School District school board unanimously approved a motion to postpone the official board warning and public vote for the Cricket Hill Project.  Those steps have been postponed for six months and the board will continue to asses recovery efforts and adjust the project timeline as needed.

All steps in the Cricket Hill Project process will be announced and promoted through multiple communication channels to give as many community members as possible a chance to learn about this project. If different dates are needed, they will be updated here and communicated to our school community.

Bond Warning at a Regular School Board Meeting - TBS

1st Informational Meeting - TBD

2nd Informational Meeting - TBD

Bond Vote - TBD

General Contractor Pre-qualification - TBD

Project Goes to Bid - TBD

Construction Begins - TBD