LYNN — It’s been a lengthy process filled with rejection, but the Lynn School Committee decided Thursday night to try again to replace the 103-year-old Pickering Middle School.
The School Committee unanimously voted to authorize Superintendent Dr. Patrick Tutwiler to submit another statement of interest for a new middle school to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), a quasi-independent government authority that helps fund the construction of school buildings.
“I think it’s important that we get back in the mix and continue to show we’re interested,” said Mayor Thomas M. McGee, chairman of the School Committee.
According to the statement of interest, a new Pickering is needed because of the school’s “severe overcrowding” and the poor condition of the building, which includes heating problems. Last summer, parents told the School Committee the conditions they saw at Pickering were “unacceptable.”
The decision to submit another statement of interest comes on the heels of the state rejecting the city’s plans for a new Pickering in December. The MSBA opted not to invite Lynn back into the program after a failed vote the year before, with the mayor stating in December that the decision was likely due to the city’s financial challenges.
Before Thursday’s vote, School Committee members raised questions about what would make their proposal more attractive this time around, with the city still in the midst of a financial crisis.
The difference, McGee said, is he expects the city will have a better handle on its budget, Lynn has a new 5-year capital improvement plan, and the superintendent has developed a plan to help alleviate overcrowding at the middle schools.
With the latter, the mayor was referring to plans to close the Early Childhood Center by the end of the school year and open an eighth grade discovery academy at the space, at the Lynn Tech Annex.
There, approximately 300 Lynn Public Schools students, in addition to taking their traditional core classes, would learn skills and engage in workshops similar to the experience they would get if they were to attend Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, said Tutwiler, who gave a further update on the $1.7 million plan.
The MSBA understands the city needs new schools, McGee said, but those three factors are what city and school officials are focusing on to get a “yes” this time around.
School Committee member John Ford said he was concerned about the city coming up with the funds to conduct another feasibility study for a new school — the last study for a new Pickering cost the city $750,000 — and then having those funds go to waste if the plan was to get shot down again.
In 2017, voters said no to a nearly $200 million proposal for building two new middle schools, rejecting the measure by a decisive margin. The first question, which asked voters to approve the construction of the schools, failed 63 to 37 percent. The second question, which sought approval to pay for them, lost 64 to 36 percent.
Had it been approved, the city would have built a 652-student school near the Pine Grove Cemetery and Breeds Pond Reservoir on Parkland Avenue. A second school would have housed 1,008 students on McManus Field on Commercial Street.
