LYNN — Officials celebrated the beginning of construction at the new Pickering Middle School Friday.
Students were also present and shared in the fun of throwing around dirt.
Work on the $175 million building project started in July, four years after the City submitted its statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority, and seven years after a vote to approve a new Pickering and additional middle school in West Lynn failed.
Mayor Jared Nicholson thanked the Pickering Middle School Building Committee, the state delegation, the Massachusetts School Building Authority, and all the project’s partners for which the beginning of the construction would not have been possible.
“We are thrilled to see this project come to fruition and excited for the generations of students who will benefit from this state-of-the-art building,” Nicholson said.
He also highlighted the “inequitable” system under which new school buildings must be approved for funding, reflecting on the 10-year journey that brought them to the ground breaking.
“Various systems confine us to a future that’s at best, incoherent and, in truth, unjust. How can we possibly get to the next 10 schools if we can’t fix the one before us that’s most obvious?” he said.
Nicholson said while school enrollment across municipalities in the state has remained flat or has decreased, enrollment across the City’s school district has continued to increase. He emphasized that most of the school buildings are more than 100 years old and do not possess modern technology.
“We have experienced sustained enrollment increases, and that shows confidence in our future, in the folks that choose to live here, but it also, as a result, means that our schools are overcrowded,” he added.
Nicholson said the project makes progress toward solving overcrowding at the middle school level by doubling capacity at Pickering.
He said the challenges the city had to overcome to begin building the new middle school is a learning opportunity, as well as a chance to show the community that a better future is possible.
“A better Lynn. Not a different Lynn, with different people, but the very people here now dealing with the indignities of a broken system, like the current conditions of Pickering,” he said. “It’s about seeing a vision for something better for ourselves, and then making it our reality, making the beautiful plans that you see on display here today.”
The new building will be constructed adjacent to Sisson Elementary School. It will be five stories on the Magnolia Avenue side and four stories on the Conomo Avenue side. It will include a media center, a combined gymnasium and auditorium, a black box theater, a cafeteria, a rooftop learning deck, multi-purpose learning stairs in the two-story main lobby, and a satellite location of Lynn Community Health Center.
“This is a commitment to providing the best possible environment for learning and growth for our students,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Evonne Alvarez said. “It is a place where students will dream, explore and discover.”
Alvarez also acknowledged the local leaders who worked on the project, for their dedication to investing in education and the school district’s mission of inspiring talent.
State Sen. Brendan Crighton said he is “so proud,” to be from Lynn, where there is a tremendous amount of opportunity.
“I think our strongest asset has always been our people, and particularly our young people that are here today, who deserve 21st century schools to learn in. Thank you so much to all the families, the teachers and the students for their patience,” he said.
State Rep. Dan Cahill, speaking to the students, referred to the project as Lynn’s Egyptian pyramid, because of how many people it took to get it built and how long it took to get it built.
He told the students that sometimes adults are passionate and argumentative in their work, but it is always because they want what’s best for their students.
“Lynn’s very passionate about Lynners. We’re passionate about our next generation. We’re passionate about our kids and our education, and this school is just a testament to that,” Cahill said.
