Former middle school handed over to town

SWAMPSCOTT – The school district will turn the former middle school on Greenwood Avenue over to the town as surplus as of July 1.The school was closed at the end of the 2006-2007 academic year and middle school students were moved to the former high school on Forest Avenue.School Committee member Joseph Crimmins, who chairs the School Master Plan Committee charged with making recommendations as to the schools’ future use, said the committee hopes to make a report in May at the annual Town Meeting.”The committee has decided there is no future educational use for the Greenwood Avenue facility,” he said. “We have several different scenarios for the Master Plan and none would involve the use of Greenwood Avenue. It would cost too much to bring the building up to code to use it for any future educational use and the money we would have to put in just to use it for swing space would be cost prohibitive.”Crimmins said the School Master Plan Committee would have an executive summary completed by Town Meeting and would make its recommendations at that time.”As part of that we will announce Greenwood Avenue will be turned over to the town,” he said.In addition to the Greenwood Avenue facility and the buildings currently being used for educational purposes, the district also owns the Machon School, which the district is paying to mothball while its fate is being determined.Even though the Machon School is currently not being utilized, Crimmins said it would not be turned over to the town immediately because it could be utilized as swing space.”The committee has not come to a decision regarding whether the district has any future use for the Machon Elementary facility,” he said. “It does fit in under final recommendation if we choose to improve Stanley School by building on the existing structure. In that scenario it would be used as swing space while Stanley undergoes renovation and expansion.”According to state law, if the school district declares a school building surplus it would be turned over to the town. It would be up to the town to decide how to dispose of it.Town Administrator Andrew Maylor said if the town sells any of its surplus properties, the money from the sale could not be used to cover operating expenses or balance the budget because proceeds from the sale of town-owned assets are governed by statute.He said the money could be used to make capital improvements to other school or town-owned buildings, purchase other assets or make payments on debt incurred by previous capital services of a similar type.