WAKEFIELD — Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational Technical High School has started a new chapter with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) in a quest to build a new school.
The school typically has a waiting list of 400 to 800 students, said school committee chairwoman Deborah Davis.
“This new school will allow us to keep turning out the best vocational students in the state, and I dare say, in the country,” said Davis.
The Northeast Metro Tech District was formed in 1964 in an agreement adopted by voters in 12 communities to offer technical courses that none of the cities or towns could offer on its own. Students commute from Saugus, Revere, Malden, Melrose, North Reading, Reading, Stoneham, Chelsea, Woburn, Wakefield, Winchester, and Winthrop, and choose from 14 programs, including automotive repair, carpentry, cosmetology, culinary arts, dental assisting, electricity, HVAC and refrigeration, and early childhood education.
The MSBA, a quasi-independent government authority that helps fund the construction of school buildings, invited the Northeast Metro Tech District into a 270-day eligibility period during which they will work together to determine the district’s financial and community readiness for the project.
The MSBA will reimburse Northeast for 71.84 percent of costs associated with the new building. The remainder will be paid by the cities and towns in the school district and mortgaged over a 30-year period. The burden will be distributed based on enrollment from each community the previous year.
The next step is for the district to complete preliminary requirements for local approval and to form a school building committee. They will then be eligible to enter the feasibility study phase.
Superintendent David DiBarri said he was thrilled to have the project accepted by the MSBA. The district first considered the project when a feasibility study called for a complete replacement of all mechanical systems and electrical systems, along with a full code and regulations update to the current building two years ago, he said.
According to the study, the building would also require modernization to comply with state regulations for size and program demands, and more special education accommodations and better designated public meeting areas.
“This new building project will allow us to meet the requirements of 21st century learning and provide our students with an update space to excel in both academics and their technical areas of study,” said DiBarri.
This is the second school serving Saugus residents that is completing a major school building project with the MSBA. Residents overwhelmingly supported two debt exclusions in June. The first requested $160 million for a proposed grades 6-12 combination middle and high school, and the second sought support for a $25 million district-wide master plan that would restructure the district to include an upper elementary school for grades 3-5 at the existing Belmonte Middle School and a lower elementary school for Pre-K through grade 2 at the Veterans Memorial Elementary School.
The proposed project will create a new 269,000-square-foot facility to replace the current high school building, which was built in 1954 and has seen several renovations since.
The MSBA will reimburse the town 57.7 percent of eligible approved project costs, or about $64 million.
The master plan is a town project and is not being pursued through the MSBA. The town’s share of the total project would be an estimated $118 million, bonded over a 30-year period.
Revere completed a new school project with the new 103,000-square-foot Hill Elementary School in 2015. The MSBA contributed $29.5 million.
