Swampscott mulls future of elementary school project

SWAMPSCOTT – The time for the town to decide if it wants a neighborhood or district-wide new elementary school is now.Almost a year after Town Meeting members approved the feasibility study for a new or renovated elementary school, the School Building Committee is preparing for a vote to decide which is best for Swampscott.The three upcoming public forums on Sept. 10, Sept. 12 and Sept. 18, all at 7 p.m. in the high school?s auditorium, will be an opportunity for the community to voice opinions and concerns before the vote is taken at the end of September. The committee will be holding additional information sessions during the district-wide teacher convocation and during back-to-school nights at the respective schools.The vote for which kind of school is just one more milestone for the new school project. A Town Meeting vote in spring 2014 will determine if the town wants to act on the work of the School Building Committee and get a new elementary school.Working closely with the Massachusetts School Building Authority, Mount Vernon Group Architects and OPM Design Group, the committee has met weekly to hear details about every possible option of renovating or building a new elementary school to replace the Hadley School.As of this week, the options for a new school include renovating Hadley, renovating the Stanley School, demolishing the old Stanley School and building a new district-wide school on the playing field, or building a district-wide school next to the middle school on Forest Avenue where the soccer field is.Committee member Glenn Paster said it?s been a “fast and furious” process.?Right now, everyone in the group is thinking, saying ?show us more options,? and asking more questions,” he said. “It?s a really fluid progress.”In a meeting of the committee Tuesday, designers and architect said renovating Hadley was not a good option because the building isn?t up to code, and to bring it to standard would require building onto the grass at Linscott Park.Paster said the middle school option, which wasn?t immediately obvious, was kind of an “aha moment” for the committee.?There are still so many options,” he said.