SAUGUS — The year 2020 looks bright for Saugus public schools.
With only an estimated five months away from move-in day, the town is gearing up to welcome the new decade with a brand-new school. The $150 million project, built to combine grades six through 12, will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and more than enough space to house the nearly 1,400 students slated to move in by April.
Construction crews first broke ground at the site in July 2018, and, a year-and-a-half later, the new building towers over the old high school campus as an almost symbolic nod to what lies ahead. In addition to updated science and technology labs, the combined middle-high school will also include a 12,000-square-foot gym, a 750-seat auditorium, outdoor classrooms, and student walkways and gardens, among numerous other amenities.
In an interview he gave in November, then newly-appointed school board committee member John Hatch said he thought the facilities were “amazing,” and added that he felt the school building committee had done an excellent job planning for the new space.
“They’ve made the school into a point of pride, not just for the town, but for the state,” he said. “There’s not going to be a single old thing. Everything will be turnkey.”
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing this year for Saugus education, however. At the new school board’s first meeting earlier last month, superintendent David DeRuosi aired his grievances that the town’s educational system has many underlying issues — issues he believes a new building alone would be unable to fix. From lower MCAS scores, to high administrative turnover, to low student attendance, DeRuosi made it clear the new building wouldn’t solve the district’s problems.
“We want to build the education to match the building,” he said at that meeting.
Despite the controversy, several Saugus students and school faculty say they look forward to the chance to turn over a new leaf. Teachers and administrators seem to be in agreement that regardless of other issues their town may have, this new school is something the kids need — and deserve.
In an interview she did with the Daily Item last February, former school board committee chair Jeannie Meredith said of the new school’s impact: “It’s so much more than a building. Our kids are going to be on an even playing field with all these other districts.”
