Lynn, Saugus schools pass state test

Lynn’s Pickering Middle School and Saugus High School won state approval Wednesday to begin planning construction projects to replace the two aging buildings with new schools.”We’re invited into the pipeline, that’s great news,” said Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy after learning about the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) inviting the Pickering project into the eligibility phase.In praising the approval, Kennedy credited city officials with leading state building officials last year on an “eye-opening” tour of Pickering, built in 1917, and with underscoring the need for Lynn to modernize its public schools.”They were shocked to learn we have five schools in use for over 100 years. Pickering has been in deplorable shape for quite a bit of time,” the mayor said.The MSBA board of directors vote starts the clock ticking on a 270-day eligibility period for Pickering and Saugus High – built 60 years ago and expanded over the decades with additions that town officials said are poorly-laid out and energy inefficient. During the eligibility period, officials from both communities will fill out an extensive MSBA questionnaire and form local committees to undertake the new building projects.”I would like to thank Treasurer Grossman, Executive Director Jack McCarthy and the rest of the MSBA staff for coming to Lynn and recognizing the need for a new Picking Middle School,” said Sen. Thomas McGee in a statement. “In order for our students to reach their full potential, we need to continue to work together to help create first class learning facilities.”Lynn and Saugus will not conduct feasibility projects for Pickering and Saugus High until financial and planning requirements outlined by MSBA for the eligibility period are completed.”They want to make sure we’re ready,” said city Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan.The $92 million Marshall Middle School is under construction and set to open in 2016. Planning began in 2012 but Marshall and Pickering, according to a report presented to MSBA by Lynn officials, were on the city’s radar screen dating back to 2007.Marshall is eligible for an 80-percent state reimbursement rate for construction costs, and Kennedy on Wednesday said Pickering would qualify for a slightly lower reimbursement rate – just under 79 percent. She called prospective sites for a new school tentative with land off Parkland Avenue in the direction of Averill Street the leading contender.Several community site selection meetings preceded a definitive decision to build Marshall on Brookline Street.Saugus and Lynn educators submitted statements of interest last April to the MSBA outlining the need for new schools. In its SOI, Saugus educators underscored how Saugus High’s sprawling size “…has consumed badly needed field as well as open space.””These sprawling distances and the time needed to travel them impacts efforts to increase time on learning,” the statement said.