With funding approved for the Pickering Middle School project last week, the Lynn School Committee is starting to look at its next major building project.
At its Thursday meeting, the committee took the first steps toward overhauling its plan for elementary school facilities.
“We talked about this project last year and the funding that we allocated for it with the idea that the state of our school buildings is one of the most pressing needs in the district,” Mayor Jared Nicholson said. “We’re making tremendous progress on that at the middle school level where the Pickering is. We all understand that the next step is to address the needs at the elementary level.”
Steve Bancroft, senior project manager with Habeeb and Associates, presented the results of a facilities study the firm put together.
He explained that the process included reviewing district criteria and standards, a survey of principals, an inventory of all 18 elementary schools, determining existing building capacities, reviewing the facility condition assessment that was done in late 2021, and generating potential options for the district.
He said that the survey of principals showed a significant inconsistency in spaces and acceptability across the schools.
“Many of the schools are lacking in basic core spaces, such as a media center, gymnasium, cafeteria, and particularly in the area of music rooms and art rooms,” Bancroft said.
He added that the facility condition assessment identified six schools for potential consolidation.
After formulating several options, the firm narrowed the list to the two most viable recommendations.
The first option includes additions and renovations to a number of school buildings, as well as the construction of a new building. With the consolidations, the total number of elementary buildings would be 13.
“It would begin with construction of a new 700-student school building on a site yet to be determined,” Bancroft said. “From there, students would be relocated to that new building, and that would free up space to allow for additions and renovations.”
The other option would include several school renovations and construction of a double 700-student building and a double 500-student building.
Bancroft explained that a double school is two separate schools in one building sharing some common areas like a kitchen and athletic facilities.
Nicholson emphasized that the project would be several years out, but the time to start planning is now.
“We want to be ready to do that so we’re not thinking about what it is that we want to do once we’re at a point where we can start another project,” he said. “If we have a plan where we would show what we would do if we had the money, we’re going to be in a better position to then go and ask for the money. If we have a plan, once we receive the money, we won’t have to wait around.”
He also said there is a need for the district to be open with the community throughout the planning process, noting that the plan would include some difficult decisions regarding consolidation.
“We want to be really transparent with the tradeoffs because there are tradeoffs,” Nicholson said. “If we want to have modern facilities at the elementary level, in all likelihood, it’s going to reduce the number of buildings at the elementary level. That’s a difficult tradeoff, and I think the only way we get there is… to have those difficult conversations and be transparent with the community about what the tradeoffs are.”
Committee member Lenny Pena agreed.
“There are going to be some hard tradeoffs,” Pena said. “There are schools based on neighborhoods, but we’ve got to think about the equity and equality for everyone.”
Committee member Donna Coppola stressed the importance of seeking community input.
“People buy homes in particular neighborhoods because they want to be part of a neighborhood school,” she said. “Some schools will be closed.”
Committee member Tiffany Magnolia suggested getting PTOs from the schools involved in conversations early on in the process.
“I think that we’ve not been great at incorporating PTOs into conversations like this,” she said. “Some of the best communications networks in schools are not through the principal. They’re through the PTOs.”
