SWAMPSCOTT — Residents will be headed to the polls on Tuesday to approve a debt exclusion in order to build a new elementary school.
In a September Town Meeting, the town was authorized to pay for the new school, which is expected to cost $97.6 million in total. The project has been approved by the MSBA (Massachusetts School Building Authority) and is expected to cost Swampscott approximately $64 million. The state, or MSBA, would reimburse the town approximately $34.35 million for its share of the project.
The new school, if approved in the special election, would combine the town’s three existing elementary schools ― Hadley, Clarke, and Stanley ― and would be built on the current Stanley School site, at 10 Whitman Rd.
Voters will also be asked to approve the taking of easements at 101 Forest Ave. by Swampscott by eminent domain. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lynn, which owns the land, has been opposed to the taking.
“The town has been struggling for decades to really address the inadequacies of elementary school facilities,” Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald said. The three elementary schools have an average age of about 90 years. “This is a chance for Swampscott to partner with MSBA to create a state-of-the-art school for all of our children.”
Fitzgerald’s zeal for the project has recently come under fire in the form of ethics-violation charges filed by William DiMento, a lawyer and Swampscott resident. DiMento has claimed that there is a conflict of interest on the town administrator’s part regarding his alleged endorsement of the project.
DiMento sent a letter to the state Ethics Commission claiming that Fitzgerald used his desire for the new elementary school project to change what DiMento believes should have been a two-sided debate, which was held at the town’s senior center on Oct. 7. The lawyer also states in his letter that Fitzgerald is using his position as town administrator to silence those who oppose the new school project.
Fitzgerald refuted the claims saying that the only commitment he has is to the town of Swampscott.
For this election, all six precincts will vote at Swampscott High School on Tuesday and the polls will close at 8 p.m.
