ITEM FILE PHOTO
Pickering Middle School.
Instead of enjoying a quiet July with schools closed and students off for the summer, educators are ramping up for a July 20 submission to the state on a design for a new middle school, or middle schools, as well as construction cost estimates.
The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) recognizes the city has a tidal wave of elementary school students looming over local middle schools, including 100-year-old Pickering Middle School.
The state has authorized the city to plan middle school projects providing classroom seats for up to 1,660 students. But how many schools the city will build and where they will be built them are questions to be answered.
Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy is not alone in opposing construction of a single, gigantic middle school. She favors construction of two schools on two sites. The short list for sites includes land off Parkland Avenue and Robert McManus Field adjacent to Lynn Vocational Technical Institute.
The submission to MSBA will spell out the city’s construction preferences and details on sites and cost. It will reveal the city’s and the state’s financial contribution.
Coincidentally, the submission deadline comes a day before the school community gathers for a midsummer celebration at the new Marshall Middle School. The 1,100 student Brookline Street school opened in April without fanfare. The July 21 ribbon cutting will acknowledge the city’s success in building its first new public school in nearly 20 years.
The next public school project will exceed Marshall in size and cost. Public comment and involvement in project planning are crucial. In an old city like Lynn, there are no “perfect” school sites. Finding land that conforms with state school construction standards and is compatible with the neighborhood, is a challenge.
The Marshall site worked because Brookline Street residents were given plenty of opportunities to offer their opinion on the school project. With its back to the commuter rail tracks, the new Marshall has fewer neighbors than schools located in the middle of residential neighborhoods.
McManus Field also abuts the commuter rail tracks and its neighbors include Neptune Towers, Tech and Commercial Street. Building a school on the field will displace athletes who should have increased opportunities to use the Common.
By contrast, building two new middle schools, including one off Parkland Avenue, provides West Lynn and the neighborhoods ,where Pickering students live, with new schools. Many middle schoolers live in West Lynn neighborhoods, underscoring McManus Field’s value as a site. Pickering was initially ruled out as a viable site for a new school, but its residents deserve to continue to be served by a local middle school.
July 20 is just around the corner and proposals for future local public school construction will help define Lynn education for the next century.
