Location Of New Somerville School Decided

SOMERVILLE, MA — The city’s Construction Advisory Group has issued its official recommendation for the location of a new school building.

The recommendation is one culmination of a 13-month process that began with the Massachusetts School Building Authority Board of Directors advancing the city’s funding proposal for a new school building for preschool through eighth grade students. Somerville’s CAG unanimously agreed that the new building should be built at 115 Sycamore St., which is the site of the former Winter Hill Community Innovation School until it closed its doors in 2023. The other location being considered was Trum Field at 541 Broadway, but the group said that state law requirements to compensate for the lost space as well as strong community opposition in surveys and focus groups led them to choose the other option.

“Trum Field was a more expensive option due to the costs associated with building new green space under Article 97,” the CAG wrote in its recommendation.

While the location of the new school was a unanimous decision, other components of the plan were more divided. Nine of the 13 members supported having the school built to support the maximum number of students, two recommended to have the school be designed for a maximum capacity of 700 students as a “medium” option, while the final two expressed their desire for the school to only include capacity to replace WHCIS enrollment.

Those in favor of the larger student capacity argued that a larger school creates more flexibility for the school district and makes the best use for state funding.

“A new larger facility provides maximum flexibility and/or swing space to the district where nearly every other school building is at or near enrollment capacity, with no room for projected student population growth. Innovations in educational programming, such as built-for-purpose spaces for Special Education programs like AIM and other specialized services that do not exist within the current facilities portfolio, can more likely be included with a larger building project,” the recommendation reads.

The argument for a smaller building and student body was headlined by members of the CAG saying special education students will be more comfortable and receive more individual focus in a school with fewer students. They also said that district leadership has not outlined how it plans to staff and manage a school of that size.

The differing opinions continued with the future of the Benjamin G. Brown School at 201 Willow Ave., which the new facility could essentially replace if it is chosen for closure.
Seven CAG members elected to have the school’s future decided by the School Committee, three recommended closing the Brown School eventually, and the remaining three supported keeping the Brown School open.

“A framing that requires the closing of the Brown in order for the Winter Hill to get a new school inappropriately pits the communities of the two schools against each other, and should be avoided,” the CAG wrote in its recommendation.

According to the mayor’s office, the city will have to present its preferred plan to the MSBA in March. The project is being managed by PMA Consultants and design is being handled by architect Perkins Eastman. A feasibility study is the next phase of the MSBA’s process.

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