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Reminder Assistant Editor WILBRAHAM On Aug. 8, the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) hosted a meeting of its Board of Directors and representatives from Minnechaug Regional High School to discuss the possibility of the district participating in the MSBA Model School Pilot Program. If accepted, the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District could save both time and money during the construction of a new high school. "The Model School Program was established by MSBA and uses already existing designs to help make school project costs go down," School Committee chair Scott Chapman explained. The school that would be serving as a model for the new Minnechaug would be Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, located in Whitman, Mass. "When State Treasurer Timothy Cahill started promoting the model school idea, he asked who was ready," Superintendent of Schools Dr. Paul Gagliarducci said. "With our land already set aside, we jumped to the top of the list. [The MSBA] called us 10 days ago to see if we were interested. The answer was yes." Robert Page of the Concerned Citizens of Wilbraham, who also attended the MSBA meeting on Aug. 8, reported that by using the Model School Program, the school district could save $6 to $10 million in architect fees, the groundbreaking could be accelerated by at least a year and the MSBA could add up to an additional five percent to their contribution to the project. "We are excited to include Minnechaug Regional High School ... in the Model Schools Pilot Program," Cahill said in a released statement. "The program will benefit the taxpayers, administrators, teachers and students in these two communities." "We liked [the model school's] design, that it's compact, that it had a number of green components, its security aspects, its physical education aspects. We like what they did with the cafeteria and the library and the aesthetics of the building from the outside," Gagliarducci noted. "It's not extravagant, but it looks extravagant." Chapman and Page both noted the efficient design of the building as well. "The design is one of the reasons the MSBA likes this building," Whitman-Hanson Regional High School principal Ed Lee told Reminder Publications, "the fact that it has a flexible design in particular. It's great for all academic purposes." Lee added that aesthetically, most high schools pale in comparison to his. He said the support facilities, like the lecture hall, the gym facilities, the performance arts center and the two-story library, are what make the building unique and desirable. "Outside groups use our performing arts space and that actually brings revenue into our school," Lee said. "You don't see a lot of schools actually bringing in revenue." He added that because the facility is special, it makes the students that matriculate the high school feel special. "They have pride in the building," he said. The model school program also fosters sustainability. Building practices, designs and materials are all environmentally friendly. Lee said that even though the new Whitman-Hanson high school is 100,000 square feet larger than its predecessor, utility bills are basically the same. "The timing is right in the economy to start this process now," Gagliarducci said. Representatives from the Hampden-Wilbraham School Building Committee (SBC) will be meeting with the MSBA in two to four weeks to again discuss plans for the new Minnechaug. Gagliarducci thanked John Lovejoy of the SBC for the incredible amount of work he's done for the project, which has helped Minnechaug move quickly along the MSBA trails to this point. "The consensus is that something has to be done to this high school," the superintendent stated. "I don't think everyone agreed about that at first, but now they do." "Everyone in the community has to work together to achieve something like this," Lee commented. To see what Whitman-Hanson Regional High School has to offer as a model school, visit www.extron.fr/company/article.aspx?id=whitmanhanson. Staff Intern Kaitlyn Schroyer contributed to this story. | ||||||
