Paul Revere School to be demolished next week

REVERE-A giant demolition machine will labor through next week, tearing down the Paul Revere School with only a brief respite Monday to allow city officials to break ground on the new school.School Superintendent Paul Dakin estimated demolition work will continue through Wednesday with several days of rubble removal to follow.The start of work on the new elementary school marks the third school project undertaken by the city since 2005 when work on the Whelan and Susan Anthony schools started. The city finished work on the Rumney Marsh Academy last summer and plans for a new McKinley School are on the drawing board even work on a new Paul Revere is set to begin.City officials last December gave state School Building Authority officials a commitment to build the new Paul Revere by mid-summer 2009 in time to open the new school for the 2009-2010 school year. The city wants to build a new McKinley School by 2011, perhaps.Most of the construction costs will be paid for by the state but Mayor Thomas Ambrosino wants to make sure the city keeps costs down on the new schools. School officials worked with architects to limit Rumney construction, including the size of the school’s auditorium. Mayor Thomas Ambrosino earlier this year rejected proposals to change designs for Paul Revere’s façade as too expensive.State Treasurer Timothy Cahill, who oversees the state School Building Authority, has the power to create what he calls a model school program. He says towns that refuse to use cheaper designs might not receive state funding or would have to renovate rather than build.But architects say the state’s geography makes a one-size-fits-all approach unfeasible. Designs often have to be altered to accommodate wetlands or ledges.