New charter school picks Saugus site

SAUGUS – Officials from a new charter school in Saugus have selected a site for a new school near Saugus High School, but students enrolled for this school year will attend classes in Everett temporarily until the school is built.Dominic Slowey, a spokesman for the Pioneer Charter School of Science, said executives are negotiating a purchase and lease agreement for an empty lot behind Grace Ministries at 97 Main St., which is just a few blocks from Saugus High.?There?s empty land behind the church and that will be the site,” said Slowey. “They?re still negotiating minor points on the purchase and sales agreement ? but they?re far enough along that they?re comfortable saying that we?ve identified a site.”So far 180 students from Saugus, Danvers, Peabody, Salem and Lynn are enrolled for grades seven through nine for the upcoming school year, and Slowey said they will attend classes at the old Everett High School on Broadway.?Most charters start in a temporary space,” said Slowey. “They?ve negotiated a lease with the city of Everett to lease classrooms in the old high school ? There are 12 classrooms they?ll need for their first year.”Barish Icin, executive director of PCSS, said in a press release he was “excited to have found such a great location.”?In the meantime, we are happy that we were able to secure space in Everett to start the school year,” he said.Piles of bricks and concrete sit on the site along with construction trailers and a backhoe with graffiti sprayed on it. A pair of dumpsters filled with construction debris sit on a second elevated lot to the right.Slowey said school officials are looking to use modular construction to build the Saugus school and are hoping to finish it by the winter.?They?re hoping to get into the permanent space this winter,” said Slowey. “Supposedly it takes six to nine weeks once they start construction ? It?s not going to be a two- or three-year school construction process. They?ll be able to put modulars on that site.”After this school year, Slowey said PCSS plans to grow to 360 students in grades seven through 12 by 2016. The school year will start on Aug. 16.PCSS opened its flagship school in Everett in 2007 and the Saugus location would be the second PCSS, which focuses on math and science. The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved the Saugus location in February after a series of public hearings last winter.Thirty-one people spoke in favor of the school and 11 against it at a hearing at the Saugus Library in December. The majority of people who spoke in favor were affiliated with PCSS, including teachers, students, parents and school officials.School Committee member Arthur Grabowski has been a vocal critic of charter schools and on Tuesday said the new PCSS will “only draw more money away from the town of Saugus and the school department.”?It?s pretty disappointing to have taxpayer money fund what basically is a semi-private school,” he said. “They don?t answer to anybody and don?t have the requirements we have. They have less special needs students and less English language learners. We have to take all comers. They don?t have that problem ? We?re already behind the eight ball with funding.”