By Evan MacDonald/emacdonald@wickedlocal.comGateHouse News ServicePosted Jun 04, 2012 @ 09:00 AM
Winchester, MA —
What are you looking for in a new high school? Is it state-of-the-art technology in the classrooms, more learning space or even improved athletic facilities?
Those are the questions the Educational Facilities Planning and Building Committee will begin asking residents at its first public meeting for the Winchester High School feasibility project on June 5 at 7 p.m. in the WHS auditorium.
This is the first in a series of community meetings where the committee will provide progress updates and accept community feedback.
The committee will distribute surveys at the meeting to get some of those answers, chairman Bob Deering said. The surveys will ask residents what they’d like to see in a new or refurbished high school.
“It’s really a presentation of how this process is going to work,” Deering said. “We’ll talk about what’s going to take place, and what the time frame will be.”
The $1.3 million study, which was approved by a Fall 2010 Town Meeting vote, includes evaluating the school and developing a plan for renovating the building or building a new school. Architectural, engineering, and planning firm Symmes Maini & McKee Associates (SMMA) and project manager Skanska USA are overseeing the project.
Under the proposed schedule, a design plan for the new high school would be completed in time for a November 2013 town vote to approve funding for construction.
Initial details of the project were presented to both the School Committee and the WHS Parent Faculty Association on April 3 and 4, respectively.
“It’s very early in the process, so there might be a thousand questions, but we’re not going to have a thousand answers just yet,” Deering said. “The answers will become more plentiful as we get further into the process.”
Residents can provide feedback through the project manager’s website, which is available on the Winchester Public Schools website. The site also includes building plans for the school, lists of individuals involved with the project, and overviews of two other Skanska projects: Wellesley High School, a $115 million building completed earlier this year; and Quincy High School, a $126 million building completed in 2010.
The feasibility study is divided into three phases: preliminary design, preferred schematic report, and schematic design. The project must be approved by the Massachusetts School Building Authority after each phase.
The preliminary design phase is underway and will continue through the summer. So far, school and town officials have toured three new schools—Quincy High School, Tewksbury High School, and Wellesley High School—to get a sense of what a new or refurbished WHS could look like.
School officials, teachers, non-teaching staff, and students also provided input about the project during a series of all-day programming sessions over the past month. Deering said input would help shape the project.
“We want this to be a 21st century school, so we need to envision what education is going to be like in five, 10, or 20 years,” he said. “It’s about looking ahead to make sure what we do today will carry into the future.”
Read more: First WHS Feasibility Study community meeting set for June 5 - Winchester, MA - The Winchester Star http://www.wickedlocal.com/winchester/topstories/x624615073/First-WHS-Feasibility-Study-community-meeting-set-for-June-5#ixzz1x3as4fV9
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