Classical High repairs cost Lynn MSBA cash

LYNN – With construction at Classical High School slated to begin next week and continue for 18 months, the School Department is finding out the repairs are becoming more than a costly inconvenience.In a conversation with Superintendent Nicholas Kostan this week, Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) Administrator Ralph Wallace indicated that construction on Classical High School might have played a role in the administration overlooking Lynn’s statements of interest for middle school repairs.The district submitted statements of interest to repair all four middle schools this summer, marking the Marshall as a top priority. But when the MSBA selected 83 schools to move forward with feasibility studies this week, the city was completely absent from the list.Kostan responded by contacting the MSBA with questions on their decision, and after a conversation with Wallace, came away thinking that the Classical project was a main culprit in their decision.”He mentioned the Classical High situation, and said districts with ongoing construction were pushed further down the list,” he said at Thursday’s School Committee meeting.Wallace told Kostan that the Marshall was on “hold” and the MSBA would be in contact with the School Department in the near future to address the school’s renovation needs.The MSBA said the initial 83 schools that they chose to move on represented schools that were most in need of repair and renovation, and the other statements of interest will be revisited in the future.Kostan said he was told Lynn would eventually make the list.Of the school districts awarded feasibility studies, only Boston and Chelsea were chosen from the list of urban school districts, which also did not sit well with the superintendent.”I look at this list and there are an awful lot of wealthy communities on here – Concord, Acton, Belmont, Wilmington, Weymouth, and the only urban sites are Boston, which has 100 schools and only one on the list, and Chelsea, which I believe has opened all new schools in the last 10 years,” he said.Kostan said the focus will turn to working with the MSBA on the statements of interest and completing the renovations at Classical as soon as possible.