BOSTON — The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) Board of Directors voted to move Lynn’s new Pickering Middle School building project into the schematic-design phase, according to Chair of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) and State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and MSBA Executive Director/Deputy CEO John McCarthy.
In the schematic-design phase, the MSBA and the district will look at possible options to replace the existing Pickering Middle School with a new facility. The next step is for the MSBA to work in collaboration with the district to produce detailed designs for a potential project.
“Thanks to our collaborative work with local officials, we are working to build a 21st-century educational facility that will provide Lynn students with a top-notch learning environment,” Goldberg said.
The proposed project would replace the existing Pickering Middle School with a new facility serving grades six through eight on the site of the existing Pickering Middle School, Sisson Elementary School, and adjacent Magnolia Park.
The district had identified in their statement of interest numerous deficiencies and structural-integrity issues including mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems as well as problems with windows, roof, and accessibility. In addition to the physical-plant issues, the district reported that the existing facility does not support the delivery of its educational program as well as existing and projected overcrowding.
“The new Pickering Middle School will mean a better learning and teaching location for students and teachers,” McCarthy said.
The MSBA partners with Massachusetts communities to support the design and construction of educationally appropriate, flexible, sustainable, and cost-effective public-school facilities. Since its 2004 inception, the authority has made over 1,750 site visits to more than 250 school districts as part of its due-diligence process and has made over $16.5 billion in reimbursements for school construction projects.
“We’re excited to have received approval from the MSBA to move the Pickering Middle School project into the schematic-design phase,” Mayor Jared Nicholson said. “This approval represents a lot of work that’s been done to advance the Pickering project, and we will continue to work with our partners locally and at the state level to deliver a new school building that our students and teachers deserve.”
