School Committee to move forward on building choice

WEST BOYLSTON - The West Boylston School Committee is moving forward with a plan to build a new school, scheduling a formal vote for its next meeting.

Acting Chairman Jason Ponticelli referred to the “very through study” of the schools’ possible solution to the aging Major Edwards Elementary School.

“The option we are supporting is going to be the best and leave us in the best possible shape for our students,” Ponticelli said at the last committee meeting.

That option, slightly modified from the consultant’s suggestion, would see the town build a new middle/high school for grades 7 to 12 and relocate pre-K to grade 6 in the existing middle/high school.

Superintendent of Schools Elizabeth Schaper said the building would have to be renovated to make it more suitable for younger children.

“There is a lot of room for expansion in the building,” according to James Pedone, chairman of the capital subcommittee that spearheaded the study.

The consultants, the New England School Development Council, and committee agreed in previous discussions that the elementary school is due for retirement. The original school was built in 1935, with a 1954 addition and was renovated in 1996.

The board plans to vote at its next meeting on the option in order to move it forward to selectmen and the Facilities and Strategic Planning Committee.

The proposal will need to go through town boards and ultimately town meeting, where voters will decide on the project and the necessary funding, which could include substantial state assistance.

A site for the new building would be needed. No cost estimate was included in the analysis, but a five to seven year timeline was estimated for the approval and construction process.

The elementary school could then be turned over to the town for possible reuse.

The town has previously had schools that were no longer needed, but they no longer exist. The Goodale School, on a site where a ballfield now exists adjacent to the elementary school, was torn down in the 1980s. The Helen Mixter Elementary School was used for town offices after students vacated it until the building condition deteriorated to the point offices had to be moved. It was eventually razed and the new senior center was later built at the site.