Marblehead school board preps for school repairs

MARBLEHEAD-While Glover-Eveleth school construction plans may get most of the publicity, the School Department is also moving forward with plans to make vital repairs at the Marblehead Village School and Gerry School.The Facilities Master Plan Committee has passed its first round with the Massachusetts School Building Authority and will begin a feasibility study of plans to renovate the Eveleth School to accommodate students from the Glover and Eveleth schools.The FMPC will hold a community forum to discuss that plan Thursday, Jan. 24, at 7 p.m. on the Marblehead High library, and seven hand-picked school and town officials will meet with Project Coordinator Sean Walsh Feb. 27 at the MSBA offices for a working session, to start the feasibility study process. That process could take 15 months.At the same time, facilities committee members were told Thursday night, the school department has reserved space in the warrant for the May Town Meeting for articles dealing with repairs to the Gerry and the Village schools.In addition, school administrators have hired consultants to create cost estimates for those repairs.Symmes Maini & McKee Associates of Cambridge – SMMA – has been hired to update its 2004 Village School study with current costs, School Business Manager David Keniston said, at a cost of $7,500.Knight Bagge and Anderson Architects of Charlestown, a firm with experience dealing with older buildings, will consult on the Gerry School at a cost of $4,500.”We expect written reports with cost estimates by the end of January or early February,” Keniston said.The greatest risk the schools face is the 1950s heating system at the Village School. Superintendent of Schools Paul Dulac called the aging system “the greatest risk we face” and School Committee Chairman Amy Drinker said the town has to have a heating system in place next fall.