Bethany Hill Property Could Become Framingham School

The Framingham School Committee wants to purchase 12 acres of land, owned by the Sisters of Saint Joseph, as a possible future school site.

The land located at 85 Bethany Road is located on the south side of town, off Route 135.

Editor’s Note: In full transparency, my home would be an abutter to the property.

School Committee members toured the property, last month.

School administration believes the site may be needed to deal with rising enrollement in the Framingham Public Schools. The School District has seen incoming kindergarten classes of 700-plus students for the last 5 years.

The School Committee believes the property is ideal, as it is on the south side of Framingham, where a significant percentage of the district’s population lives.

Framingham had several schools on the South side, but they have since closed or the buildings have been used for non-school purposes.

For example, the former Memorial Elementary School is now housing units. The former Roosevelt Elementary School is now a playgound on Fay Road. The proposed Bethany Hill site is within walking distance to both those closed schools.

One of the district’s largest school’s on the south side Barbieri Elementary was a neighborhood school. But within the last decade it has been used exclusively for the district 2-way Spanish program and special needs programming. Neighborhood students, who could walk to Barbieri, must choose one of the town’s other 8 elementary schools to attend.

Built in 1964, the Bethany Hill site consists of a 32-acre campus, with a 109,945 square foot residence hall (180 dorm units), and a 10,000 square foot administration building.

It is zoned R-3, for educational, religious, non-profit or single family. Assisted living and congregate care is available with a special permit.

It is unknown how much the Framingham Schools would pay for the 12 acres it wishes to purchase from the Sisters of Saint Joseph.

The School Committee indicated the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph property includes sufficient upland area to construct a school and playing fields. The site currently is also a popular sledding hill in town.

The past two years, the Framingham Public School district has applied to the state for assistance in dealing with the overcrowding at the middle school level, speciafically to renovate Fuller Middle School or make improvements to the adjacent former Farley School.

The district has been rejected for funding twice.

The district applied a third time this year, and is expected to receive an answer later this month.

The Framingham submissions denied requested funding to conduct a feasibility study, conceptualize and plan renovations, identify funds for the estimated $48 million Fuller-Farley project, and ultimately break ground and complete construction.

The application in 2014 not funded proposed a possible K-8 model, to deal with overcrowding in the middle and elementary school levels.

Framingham applied to the state to be eligible for state funding for the project. Framingham is eligible, if approved by the state, for up to 59 percent reimbursement of the project.

Fuller Middle School, built in 1958, is the former Framingham South High School. It is located on Flagg Drive across the street from McCarthy Elementary School and adjacent to the former Farley school, currently the Framingham campus of Mass Bay Community College. The Town of Framingham is leasing the former Farley school to the college for a fee.

The Framingham Public School administration in the past has stated the Fuller-Farley proposed project is needed to alleviate overcrowding in the schools. School administration said Fuller is home to about 500 students, but the population is “expected to increase to 650 over the next 5 to 10 years.”

Last year, the state approved about a dozen applications for funding out of more than 100 requests.

The Framingham School Committee is expected to discuss the property and the possible purchase at its meeting tonight. It is on the agenda for 9:45 p.m.

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Photo courtesy of the Sisters of Saint Joseph