Essex North Shore Argicultural Technical High School to Break Ground This Summer

The Essex North Shore Agricultural Technical High School architects announced plans to break ground on the 340,000 square foot building project this upcoming summer, with plans to open the doors to students in the fall of 2014.

The $133 million project, a work in progress since 2003, will merge , North Shore Tech in Middleton, as well as Peabody's vocational programs, into a high school fit for a maximum of 1440 students.

The project went through several design options, with the chosen design "breaking new ground educationally as well as in design," according to a presentation from the Design Partnership of Cambridge at the Nov. 30 informational meeting at Essex Aggie.

The mega-vocational school will be the only high school in the state to offer all of the programs in one facility that are currently offered between Essex Aggie, North Shore Tech, and Peabody.

With four major academies the school will be set up as "a small school within a large school prototype."

The academies, divided amongst the building with their own entrances and administrative offices will be: construction and technology, life and natural sciences, technology and services, and plant and animal sciences.

The building will also be striving for the silver LEED, an international certification for measuring sustainability building. The school will be designed with low water usage, low flow fixtures, as well as green "living roofs," in some areas, with grass to be grown on top.

The design is set to be done this spring, with plans to be in the ground this summer. The construction aspect is slated at two years, with an anticipated school opening in the fall of 2012.

Among the discussion at the meeting, traffic was a main concern from area residents.

Essex Aggie Superintendent-Director Roger Bourgeois noted that most of the student happenings will take place on the north side of Route 62, with the current Aggie campus on the south side being used as administrative buildings, so students crossing the street multiple times a day will be less of an issue.

Pare Corporation has also created a traffic analysis and is working with Design Partnership of Cambridge to create a solution.

Superintendent-Director of North Shore Tech, Daniel O'Connell, assured residents that "this is just the beginning," and additional meetings will be scheduled to keep the community up to date.