PEABODY — The School Building Committee met for the first time Tuesday afternoon to lay out what their duties in the coming months will look like in order to get the new Peabody Veterans Memorial High School (PVMHS) plans into motion.
Some members of the committee were required to be there by the Massachusetts School Buildings Authority (MSBA), while others were brought on for their expertise by Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt, Committee Chair Beverley Griffin Dunne, and Peabody Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Josh Vadala. Other volunteers included teachers, city council members, and former members of Peabody public schools.
Importantly, many members were parents of students who are in the Peabody Public school system currently but will be using the new PVMHS, meaning they are well aware of the importance of this job.
“This school’s gonna be around for 50, 60 years,” said Vadala. “It’s such a big project, it’ll be the biggest financial commitment that the city’s ever made.”
Other members pointed towards the recently finished projects of Higgins Middle School and Welch Elementary School. Jon Swanson, a member of the School Committee, said, “I used to teach at the old Higgins Middle School … and as a parent I’ve seen the students go through the new Higgins and wow, what a difference. And that’s what our kids deserve.”
With many systems in the current high school that are outdated, it was a common sentiment amongst members of the committee that it was time for this project. It’s been almost a year since the MSBA selected PVHMS for eligibility, a move that will use state funding to cover over 60 percent of the project’s cost.
Discussions mainly focused on what the committee wishes to accomplish as it works with the MSBA, including the introduction of further technical programs like plumbing, electrical, and aviation. Dunne and Bettencourt also explained their goal of keeping the current auditorium and field house, as completely new structures would have to be smaller.
Another immediate step for the committee is scheduling public meetings so that they can hear from city residents and take into consideration their opinions.
“The more input we get, the more it will help us as we move forward and make these tough decisions,” Vadala said. A tentative timeline of a public meeting at the end of January followed by a vote by the City Council was also laid out by Vadala.
One of the most important tasks of the committee will be to decide on an owner’s project manager, who will be the city’s representative throughout the construction process and will help with choosing a design team, architect, and construction company.
As the meeting finished up, Dunne reminded the committee members that while this project may be a considerable commitment for them, it should also be exciting: “This is our chance to dream, really, to be able to build something for Peabody that is going to make education go so much further over the next 50 or 60 years.”
