Photo by Andrew Sylvia Joint Special School Building Committee Chairman Rick Dowd speaks during a Nashua Board of Education meeting this week.

NASHUA – The next step toward updating middle schools in the Nashua School District should be complete next week.

Any architectural firms seeking to bid on upcoming renovations of the city’s three middle schools have until Wednesday, with construction management firms facing a Thursday deadline.

According to Nashua School District Plant Operations Manager Shawn Smith, 10 architectural firms and three construction management firms took part in a tour of Elm Street Middle School earlier this month. Smith did not release names of the 13 firms during Thursday’s Joint Special School Building Committee, citing that participation in the tour did not guarantee the firms would submit bids for consideration.

After the deadline, Smith will submit an analysis on the candidates’ strengths and weaknesses to the committee on each candidate, with the committee then allotting time to interview the strongest contenders in October and November.

During Thursday’s meeting, the most significant expectation for the makeover of Nashua’s middle schools was a perspective that any modifications to the schools should take place around the schools’ programs.

Joint Special School Building Committee Chairman Rick Dowd also voiced an expectation that portable classrooms at Pennichuck Middle School were not desirable moving forward — and the three schools should have fairly equal enrollment.

According to the New Hampshire Department of Education, Elm Street Middle School currently has a student population of approximately 1,000, while the enrollment at Pennichuck and Fairgrounds Middle schools stands at about 700 each.

It also remains unclear whether the process will lead to a renovation of Elm Street Middle School, or result in a full replacement with a new school at a 20-acre lot near Cherrywood Drive and Buckmeadow Road.

A final decision on the architectural firm and construction management firms is expected before the end of the year.