Stoneham Voters Overwhelmingly Approved New Voke In Wakefield

STONEHAM, MA — Even in a paltry turnout, voters in Stoneham overwhelmingly approved the construction of a new vocational school in neighboring Wakefield.

Of the 368 Stoneham voters who showed up to vote in Tuesday's special election, 334 said yes.

Stoneham voters broke in line with most of the cities and towns that send students to Northeast Metro Tech, with more than 82 percent of the total 9,054 voters who showed up voting in favor of constructing the $317 million project.

Chelsea (38 percent) was the only community to vote no, while Saugus (62 percent) was the only other community to show anything less than enormous support. The city council and town meeting of those respective communities disapproved of the project, citing high costs. The cost for each town is the same on a per-student basis, but more students means higher costs, and Chelsea and Saugus send the second- and third-most students, respectively.

As of October numbers provided by the district, Stoneham only sends 80 students to the school and would be responsible for only 6.25 percent of the total costs after accounting for a $141 million Massachusetts School Building Authority grant. That has the town's residents on the hook for just over $11 million to paid over the next 30 years, pre-interest.