New school process advances in Marblehead

MARBLEHEAD – An estimated three dozen locals poured into the Eveleth School auditorium Wednesday morning to see the Glover School Building Committee unveil three possible building designs for a 425-student elementary school at the Glover School site.The committee’s decision to focus on the 6-acre Glover School site, which currently holds two buildings, one built in 1916 and the other in 1948, met with little opposition – as the committee consultant, JCJ Architecture executive James Laposta put it, the only other large sites available in the area are a park and a cemetery. The Eveleth School lot is 3.8 acres.LaPosta said his firm is conducting tests to see how they can design around the ledge on the Glover site. Traffic studies will take place next week and the Glover designs include an access road along the back of the property from Humphrey Street to Maple Street, to alleviate the traffic problems that some residents anticipate.As for the need to replace the Glover and the 1958 Eveleth School, that argument seemed to be made when School Committee member Jonathan Lederman’s chair fell apart as he tried to sit in it yesterday.The committee is scheduled to propose a Glover plan by mid-February, the Massachusetts School Building Authority will rule on that plan in March and Town Meeting and the voters will be asked to approve a debt exclusion override for the town’s share of the cost. The MSBA has approved 40 percent reimbursement for the project. The new school could be open in 2013.JCJ designs call for three different sets of two-story structures at the Glover site, with kindergarten and Grade 1 classes on the first floor and Grades 2 and 3 on the second floor. The options would preserve the 1916 building as a cafeteria. All three options would double the present amount of playground space.Asked where the Glover children would attend class during construction, Superintendent of Schools Paul Dulac said there will be space available at the Marblehead Village School and the Coffin School, as well as the Eveleth. “We’ll keep classes together if we can,” he said.Marblehead has been one of the first communities to follow the new MSBA school construction procedures. Glover-Eveleth Principal Mary Devlin said she liked that process. “It forces people to look at what makes the best school,” she said.