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| Proposed new elementary school on Central Avenue to replace Hillside |
The Needham School Committee encourages voters to learn about the proposed new elementary school on Central Avenue. Chair Sue Neckes explains:
On November
8th, Needham voters will be asked whether or not to allow the Town to raise
funds to construct a new Hillside School on Central Avenue.
The need to
replace the existing Hillside Elementary School, built in 1959, has been well
documented for years in the Town's Capital Improvement Plan and supported by
the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA): Major building systems are beyond their
useful life; the school is not up to modern code standards and is not
handicapped accessible; it is undersized for the ongoing population and
outdated for contemporary educational practices and programs; and,
environmental issues at the current site, while well managed, have required
diligent attention.
For several
years, the Town, including the School Committee and the Permanent Public
Building Committee (PPBC) has worked with educational designers, architects and
other experts to identify the best location for the school and to design it to
meet the needs of the community and the children who will attend the school
during the coming decades. Town Meeting
has approved funding for the new school at every step in the process. The new school will provide the necessary and
appropriate spaces for project-based learning; curriculum in art,
music, Spanish, and
technology; and special education.
Additionally,
with space for full-day kindergarten, the School Committee and community will
significantly reduce the barriers to accomplishing our goal of offering
full-day kindergarten to all of our students.
Based on MSBA
requirements, the school is slated for an enrollment of 430, but through
careful planning to ensure four sections per grade, the school will have
capacity to accommodate up to 544 children.
Enrollment is expected to be 483 in 2020 when the school is scheduled to
open. The new school, planned to receive
LEED Silver
certification, will be highly energy efficient.
The properly sized classrooms with well-placed windows and purposeful
natural lighting are designed specifically to provide the most conducive
teaching and learning environment for current practices.
The specific
wording of Ballot Question 5 is:
“Shall
the Town of Needham be allowed to exempt from the provisions of Proposition
Two-and one-half, so called, the amounts required to pay for the bond issued in
order to provide architectural
design, engineering, construction, site work and site acquisition for the
Hillside School on Central Avenue?”
The total
cost of the project is not to exceed $66 million, because that is the total
amount Town Meeting has approved. This
amount includes the cost to design, engineer and construct the school, and will
cover the town's cost of acquiring the Owen's Poultry Farm site and adjacent
properties on Central Avenue. The MSBA
will contribute about 21% of the total project cost, approximately $13-14
million. As both funder and watchdog,
the MSBA has carefully reviewed and approved our plans and, not only offered
its support, but its limited funds as well. The estimated impact on the annual
tax bill for the average single family home to pay the annual debt service will
vary over time, but will not exceed a maximum of $375 per year. The School Committee, Board of Selectmen,
Finance Committee and Town Meeting all enthusiastically support this project
and the financing plan.
The School Committee
recognizes the tax burden placed on town residents in supporting this
project. We hope you will agree that
providing a high quality education, an expectation of our Town and a reason so
many of us choose to live here, requires buildings that support 21st century
teaching and learning.
For more information
about the proposed new school: New Hillside Elementary School
