Facility problems continue to plague Saugus High

SAUGUS – Superintendent Richard Langlois said Saugus High School has been placed on warning by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges because of ongoing problems with the building.Some of the issues laid out in an April 16 statement from NEASC include a failure to meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards, a lack of adequate power for science labs, outdated and uncomfortable classroom furniture, outdated lighting and technology, and a lack of security and lighting in the parking lot.”What’s disheartening is there was great effort on the part of the high school to remedy some of this,” said Langlois. “(The town) needs to begin the process of mitigating some of those ares of concern in the event we don’t get approved for the (Statement of Interest for a new high school.) It comes down to the facility itself.”Langlois said the school must submit a response to NEASC in October and could potentially lose accreditation as soon as next spring if the issues aren’t corrected. Losing accreditation could affect grants, scholarship and college acceptance for students.”We have to be on the fast track to get funding,” said Langlois. “They’ll look at what it is the town is going to do if we don’t get approved for the SOI ? Unless the town intervenes and does something, you’re heading down that way faster than you think.”Saugus High School was reaccredited by NEASC in 2011.School Committee Chairman Wendy Reed asked if the town could amend the SOI, which was recently submitted to the Massachusetts School Building Authority, to emphasize the town is in danger of losing accreditation.”I think there should be an effort to notify them that we’ve been placed on warning and see if we can amend it,” she said. “We need a plan ? We need an article to put before Town Meeting for funding.”Langlois said he doesn’t think they can but will check with the MSBA.Reed said she wants to have a meeting with the Town Manager and Town Meeting members at the high school to discuss the issue.School Committee member Arthur Grabowski, however, said “until such time that the SOI is approved or rejected,” he can’t see asking the voters to spend “thousands of dollars on a building that in two or three years will be torn down.”School Committee member Frederick Doucette said he can’t support “any course of action that would cause Saugus High School to lose accreditation” and noted the school could lose accreditation by the time Saugus hears back from the MSBA.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].