Workers prep new home of Lynn school offices

LYNN – Work has begun to turn the empty Ford School Annex building on Bennett Street into a place where all School Department administrators can come home to roost.”If you walked in and saw the first floor you’d think ?they’re never going to make it,'” said Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan. “But on the second floor they’re already painting.”About 30 contractors filled the Bennett Street building Friday, working on various aspects but all with the same goal, to get the building finished by Aug. 16. Donovan said walls had been moved, wires pulled and sprinkler work was under way. Work will begin on the downstairs as soon as the wiring is completed, Donovan added.”We’re shooting to have the work done by Aug. 16 and then we’ll start moving them in Monday,” he said.The School Committee voted in 2012 to turn the Ford School Annex building, which has been closed for about four years, into a School Administration Building. According to Superintendent Catherine Latham the school administration split up after it left a Central Avenue building several years ago when the rent became exorbitant.Latham, along with the majority of the administrators moved into the south end of the Lynn Vocational Technical Institute annex on Commercial Street. The Special Education and Nursing departments went to 113 Broad St., and Security, Attendance and Discipline went to the Fecteau-Leary building on North Common. The move to Bennett Street will put everyone under one roof again.The move will take at least a few days to complete, however. Donovan said he will move administrators out of LVTI first because that space has to be renovated to accommodate the new early childhood education center, which opens with the new school year in September.”But even that move will take more than one day,” he said. “It’s a lot of people to move.” Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].