Informational Posters

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More Information

Configuration Decision

Three configuration options were considered for Swampscott. Rebuilding Hadley as is, with the current student enrollment; this did not meet the district vision of educating all students in the same grade together. Although it provided a far superior building for 1/3 of our students, inequity among learners would be even greater, the district would have to continue sharing resources among three schools, and the town would still need to rebuild or replace the other two aging schools. In the long term, this was the costliest option. Building a district-wide 3-5 would have begun the process of educating students in the same grades together. However, it would require redistributing all K-2 student and creating larger class sizes in Clarke and Stanley, continued shared services among three schools and the town would need to rebuild or replace one or two aging schools. Two schools, one to house K-2 and one for 3-4, built on the same site with shared spaces is the best educationally – it provides the most immediate educational equity for all our learners and allows for efficient use of all our resources. This option allows all our students to have access to healthy and safe and appropriate educational spaces. This option also makes the most financial sense.

Site Decision

Swampscott is less than 3 miles square and has very few sites for building a new school. The Team of Professionals analyzed every available property in town, comparing location, student density, traffic impact, size of property, cost to develop and environmental issues. Site were narrowed to three. Reusing the Hadley site was a potential for a rebuild of the current Hadley or a new district-wide 3-5; however, even with a 4-story building, there was limited parking on site, a multitude of traffic issues, inadequate on-site play space and the continued need to share the public park. The potential site on the lower middle school parking lot and tennis courts was evaluated for a 3-5. Although traffic and parking were better, the cost to develop here was highest, it also required the taking of the courts and a Little League field and created a congested school campus with limited future options for Middle School renovation/replacement. No location was ideal, the existing Stanley site was chosen as the only site large enough, and the best location, for a Twin School. The site has adequate space for student play and is adjacent Ewing Woods. While traffic is a major source of frustration everywhere in Swampscott, the Stanley site has space enough for off-street queueing and parking that other sites did not. In addition, the proximity to the middle school east parking lot makes this a prime elementary teacher and overflow parking spot. During this site process, Town Meeting members, the Board of Selectman, Finance Committee, School Committee, Conservation, as well as Planning, Zoning, DPW, Fire and Police, and most importantly residents, were all consulted and had opportunities to participate in the design of the project.