Three town boards took actions this week that moved the planned renovation of the Pollard Middle School two steps forward but also one step back as the long-planned project winds its way through a lengthy approval process.
Both the School Committee and the Pollard Middle School Building Committee voted unanimously Sept. 2 to approve elements of the the project’s 2,000-page Preliminary Design Program. The PDP will be submitted to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for its review as it evaluates Needham’s eligibility for state reimbursement of more than 20% of the total project cost, which is expected to exceed $300 million.
But that application will also include a memo from the Park & Recreation Commission stating that, at this time, it “cannot support a school project on the parcels of land under our jurisdiction at the DeFazio complex.”
“Our general objection is we really haven’t been consulted or had our questions answered in the limited meetings that we’ve had with the (project) designer,” said Park & Rec Chair Chris Gerstel in an interview after the Sept. 2 meetings.
“We think they’re minimizing the impact of what a school like that would have on DeFazio,” he said of the designers.
But Gerstel said that should not be interpreted as general opposition to a Pollard renovation.
“Do I agree that there should be a new school? One hundred percent,” he said. “We’re not trying to stop a school to be built. We just don’t want it done on our parcel of land.”
“Park & Rec will support a school to be built at the Pollard site,” he added of a project that could require a portion of DeFazio to be used to support construction activity, such as laydown space for machinery and equipment.
“We will help out as much as we can with some space. But as it is right now, we can’t do a land swap.”
Any construction at DeFazio will require approval of Park & Rec which has jurisdictional control over parcels that would be required to create sufficient space to construct a new school. This potentially gives Park & Rec veto power over any DeFazio-based option.
“Implementing such a project at DeFazio would severely impact, if not shut down, various town programs,” the Park & Rec memo states. “We have reviewed all user groups and parties that utilize the complex and have determined that every sporting and recreation group would be affected.”
Park & Rec will continue to participate in periodic “chairs” meetings that are held among the Town Manager and town staff, project consultants and the chairs and vice-chairs of relevant town elected boards such as the Finance Committee, the Planning Board and others.
Alisa Skatrud, School Committee co-chair and its designated member of the Pollard Building Committee, declined to comment on the Park & Rec decision.
“We are still in the stage of understanding all of the possibilities and challenges of our different sites,” Skatrud said. “That is why the School Committee was supportive of moving multiple options forward and why we have multiple opportunities planned to ensure that we understand all the issues and can start working on solutions.”
School Committee role
The School Committee vote was to approve the 100-page educational plan that will effectively guide the design of the project.
“It’s a foundational step for our partnership with the MSBA,” said school Superintendent Dan Gutekanst. “The education plan really drives everything.”
The educational plan is titled the “Pollard Reunification Project” as it recommends returning the town’s sixth-grade cohort to a new Pollard and out of the High Rock School which has been a stand-alone sixth grade since the 2009-10 school year.
The plan submitted to the MSBA includes all seven design options that the town has studied. That includes both Grade 6-8 and Grade 7-8 configurations for three concepts:
- an “addition/renovation” of the current Pollard facility
- new construction at the back of the Pollard site
- new construction in and around the DeFazio parking lot and area
A seventh option to perform a “base repair” that would attempt to bring the current facility up to code is a required MSBA option that has little to no chance of being selected.
If one of the 6-8 configurations is ultimately chosen, High Rock would then undergo a relatively minor renovation to be converted for use as an elementary school. If a Grade 7-8 configuration is favored, High Rock would remain as a stand-alone sixth-grade center.
In addition to the objections of Park & Rec due to the impact on DeFazio’s fields, the community outreach effort on the project to date has indicated some support for retaining High Rock as a stand-alone sixth grade.
“We’ve known that there’s a lot at High Rock as a stand-alone school that has worked well for a lot of students,” School Committee member Liz Lee acknowledged. “But it also hasn’t necessarily worked well for all of our students.”
School Committee members cited multiple inadequacies such as space shortages, staffing redundancies and curriculum limitations that would be unaddressed should High Rock remain as it is.
Hank Haff, the town’s director of building design and construction, also noted that the school master plan relies on High Rock becoming available as a means to facilitate the eventual replacement of the aging Mitchell School and eventually providing the town with a sixth elementary school.
“It (the master plan) is also seen as a pathway to the fastest resolution of all the deficient schools within the district at the lowest cost,” Haff said.
The next public meeting about the Pollard Middle School Project will be held Wednesday, Sept. 10, at 6:30 p.m., both in person at Pollard and via Zoom.
Save as PDF