Gallo: State should keep Pickering on new school building list

LYNN – Angry over a state agency?s decision to knock Pickering Middle School off a public school repair and replacement list, School Committee members have asked the agency?s director to take a look at Pickering?s leaky stairwells and crumbling walls.School Building Authority Executive Director John McCarthy is tentatively scheduled to tour the East Lynn school on Dec. 17, said authority spokesman Matthew Donovan and committee member Charles Gallo.McCarthy notified Superintendent Catherine Latham by letter that Pickering, built in 1917, “…will not be invited…” into the school project review process the authority will undertake this year.Gallo and Latham reacted sharply to the news.?The SBA made a huge mistake. I?m outraged by it. I?m advocating strongly for reconsideration,” Gallo said on Tuesday.Latham said she is “quite disappointed” with the authority?s decision, adding, “I am not quite sure of the state?s reasons.”Donovan described the authority?s review process for eventually funding school repair or new construction projects as a competitive review pitting 201 “statements of interest” – including one for Pickering submitted by Lynn educators – against one another..?It?s how they measure up to other applications. We have $500 million to spread across the state,” he said.Donovan provided a copy of the state law governing the authority?s construction decisions indicating top review priority goes to projects for structurally unsound and unsafe buildings.Other priority categories include projects eliminating “severe overcrowding” and schools facing loss of accreditation – a review process assessing a school?s academic standards and other evaluation areas.Donovan acknowledged McCarthy?s Pickering tour next week is a response to calls from Gallo and other city officials. In addition to Gallo, committee member John Ford as well as Rick Starbard have been advocates for long-term school construction plans.?Our director has no problem taking a look at the school,” Donovan said.Gallo helped guide McCarthy?s boss, state Treasurer Steven Grossman, around Pickering in October. After viewing water-stained ceilings and crumbling stairwell walls, Grossman declared, “It?s not a question of whether this project gets into the pipeline, it?s a question of when.”Lynn has won initial state approval to build a new, $92 million Marshall Middle School, with groundbreaking slated to take place early next year. McCarthy noted in his letter the Authority is “collaborating” on improvements to Breed Middle School and Lynn Vocational Technical Institute.Latham last week said overcrowding in elementary schools means school officials must look for additional space outside schools to house classrooms.Ingalls School has 736 students, according to just-released enrollment figures, and Harrington School has 628 students, compared to 648 attending Pickering.Donovan said local officials cannot appeal rejected applications, but Gallo still plans to make a case for Pickering?s inclusion in the authority?s review process.?I?m not taking ?no? for an answer,” he said.