SWAMPSCOTT — Superintendent Pamela Angelakis has submitted two statements of interest for the replacement of Clarke and Stanley Elementary Schools, which continues officials’ plans for a district-wide consolidated K-5 elementary school.
Last week, the Board of Selectmen authorized Angelakis to submit the two statements of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).
The school district was accepted into the MSBA program for replacement of Hadley Elementary School in December. Hadley was built in 1911 and is the oldest school in town — the building’s current conditions have caused students to miss school in the past.
Angelakis said the MSBA conducted a site visit in October and school officials asked that the team also take a look at Clarke and Stanley, which were built in 1952 and 1929 respectively.
“When (the MSBA) did visit those schools, they were pretty much appalled by their standards as well,” Angelakis said. “We know that we make do in this town and we have a great school district. Because we make do, we just go about our business.
“But a fresh set of eyes looking at those schools really showed that we have deficiencies in all three of our elementary schools. At that time, they left strongly encouraging us to submit statements of interest for the other two schools as well.”
Angelakis said the Clarke statement of interest is based on the elimination of existing severe overcrowding. She said that was the only reason listed for Clarke because it is the district’s youngest building and it is ADA (Americans with Disabilities) accessible. She said Clarke is not ADA compliant, but it’s the district’s only ADA accessible building — officials recently spent $900,000 on a lift at Clarke.
The superintendent said the two reasons listed for the Stanley statement of interest were the elimination of existing severe overcrowding and the replacement of or addition to obsolete buildings in order to provide a full range of programs consistent with state and local requirements. She said Stanley is not ADA accessible, which really determines where the students and programs can go.
Angelakis said the two statements of interest for Clarke and Stanley continue the school district’s educational vision of a consolidated elementary school.
Under the plan, fifth grade would be moved out of the middle school down to the elementary level, which Angelakis said is more developmentally, socially and academically appropriate and a district-wide school would replace the district’s three existing elementary schools.
“I believe the discussion with the MSBA (was), if you’re putting in for one school the way we’re doing with Hadley, it implies you’re just looking at replacing one school,” Angelakis said. “What we did over the last two and a half years was develop an educational vision K-12, and as a result of that vision, we have determined that what we feel is best for the community educationally is a consolidated school.”
School and town officials will be asking Town Meeting members to fund an estimated $750,000 for a feasibility study in May.
Site determination for the new school would come as part of the study. Once the study is completed, architects would be hired to design the building and Town Meeting would have to approve funding for the school. Officials plan to ask Town Meeting for that funding in either the fall of 2019 or spring of 2020. A ballot vote would also be needed.
“We’re really looking for the most efficient, the most effective project and by submitting these two statements of interest and by moving forward with the feasibility study that looks at elementary school priorities in a really collaborative way, we can get the best outcome,” said Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald.
School officials are seeking state support for a new school building four years after the town rejected a district-wide elementary school.
In July 2014, the MSBA gave final approval for a district-wide elementary school in Swampscott. The plans included building a new school for grades 1-4 on land adjacent to Swampscott Middle School. Clarke School would have been converted to house pre-kindergarten to kindergarten. Stanley School would have been demolished with the land converted to athletic fields and playgrounds.
The proposed project cost $52.6 million and the town would have been responsible for approximately $35 million.
The proposal had to pass two votes, a two-thirds majority at Town Meeting and a town-wide ballot requiring a simple majority. Town Meeting voted 140-98 in favor of the school in October 2014, falling short of the two-thirds majority. The school was rejected by more than 2,500 votes on the ballot initiative that year.
