Revere council sends request for new school

REVERE – Mayor Thomas G. Ambrosino along with the Revere School Committee wanted the City Council to approve sending the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) a statement of interest requesting a new elementary school in the next five years.?I know the initial gut reaction to it is resistance. I am just asking you to take a step back and look at the problems our school district faces in 10 to 12 years,” Ambrosino said to the council at Monday night?s meeting.Ambrosino stated that Revere?s population has steadily been growing dramatically with each year and this year alone saw 228 new students to the district.While there are plans currently in place to build a bigger McKinley Elementary school, the mayor doesn?t believe that will be enough to meet the population demands. Ambrosino believes that the new school will be built around June 2012 and will open around August 2015. The new school is projected to hold 575 students.?At the rate we are growing, when the new McKinley school is opened we will be filled to capacity on day one,” Ambrosino said. “We are the fastest growing district in the Commonwealth.”Councilor at Large George Rotondo wondered if one new school would be enough to meet the demands. “I support your efforts wholeheartedly but is this going to be enough? Our population is growing tremendously. Is this all we are going to need?” Rotondo asked the mayor.?I would say at this point, this is enough,” Ambrosino responded. “To project anything more beyond that would be too much speculation.”Others were worried about students from other towns who go to Revere schools illegally. Ward 1 Councilor Richard A. Penta said he has heard rumors that there are up to 500 students from surrounding cities like Lynn, Saugus, Chelsea and East Boston attending Revere schools.Superintendent Dr. Paul Dakin admitted that there are students from other towns but did not believe the number was that large. “I believe we have 20 to 30 students from surrounding towns coming to Revere,” he said. “I highly doubt it is 500.”However, Dakin also said that the school department works hard to find those students. “We spend a lot of time and man power looking for those folks,” he said. “Those children shouldn?t be going to school in our city.”Ward 3 Councilor Arthur F. Guinasso would like to see more man power added to this cause. “This drives me crazy that there are children out there utilizing our school system illegally. There are millions of dollars being deprived from the students who are here legally,” he said. “They are denying the process of proper education for the folks that live in our community legally.”He also doubted that there were only 20 to 30 students living in other towns attending Revere schools. “There has to be more than 30 plus, for sure,” Guinasso said.Council President and Ward 4 councilor John Powers questioned how Revere would pay for another new school. “Where do we get the money if we can?t even get adequate money to put enough officers on the street?” Powers asked.Rotondo disagreed. Rotondo believes there will be money if casinos come to Revere. “There will be money. The bigger question is how will that money be used,” Rotondo said. “If we don?t pay for it now, we will pay for it more tomorrow.”The council voted unanimously to send a letter of interest to the MSBA.The school committee also asked the council to grant them permission to send a letter of interest to the MSBA for new science labs for Revere High School.The mayor stated that the MSBA is giving a one time only grant to Massachusetts cities to build new science labs.?This couldn?t happen at a luckier time,” Ambrosino said. “We would be foolish not to try for this.”Ambrosino said that the grant would pay for 80 percent of the funds needed to build new science labs.He also said that the current science labs are “antiquated” and could potentially adversely affect the reaccreditation process.Councilor at Large Robert J. Haas was delighted about the grant. “It