Contaminated soil delaying finish of new Revere school

REVERE – Discovery and removal of contaminated soil is pushing next year’s completion date for a new Paul Revere School back one month.Simon Tempest, the construction clerk for the school project, said it has taken the school project’s contractor twice as long as initially anticipated to remove the soil from the Revere Street school site.Although the School Committee approved contractor DeIulis Brothers’ request to the delay the opening, the setback angered committeeman Frederick Sannella, who said the committee should have received written notice of the delay.Mayor Thomas Ambrosino said any future project delays will be detailed in writing. School Superintendent Paul Dakin urged City Councilors who toured one of the city’s oldest public schools Monday to support extending the school day for McKinley School students and their counterparts across the city.Contractors demolished the old Paul Revere in January and foundation and framing work began in late winter. The school’s 400 students are attending classes in a wing of the Beachmont School while construction on the new school continues.Paul Revere is the fourth new school built in the city since 2006 and the first since that year when the new Whelan School opened. Even as work continues on Paul Revere, local educators and Ambrosino are pushing ahead with plans to replace the McKinley School.McKinley is a 105-year-old brick stalwart attended by 444 students compared to 225 who went there in 2001. School Superintendent Paul Dakin last year said a city plan to replace the McKinley in 2011 with a new building would provide “equity” for students in Revere’s central neighborhoods.Unlike their peers in newer, bigger schools, McKinley students browse through library books on shelves in the school’s hallways so that the library can be used as a computer room.The school’s top floor doubles as a cafeteria and music room but the students learn on a state-of-the-art computer phonics program and classroom “smart boards.”McKinley Administrator Elizabeth Anton would like to offer dance and music after school to students if extended day is approved. Dakin has proposed coupling extended day with after school programs by placing private after-school programs in all local schools.He said the public schools could benefit from working with organizations that match seniors seeking volunteer opportunities with school programs.Half of McKinley’s kids return to a home at the end of the day where a language other than English is spoken.