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Date: 2/21/2023
HOLYOKE — Taking another step toward a new middle school building to replace the William R. Peck Middle School, the city of Holyoke has entered into a contract with the architecture and design firm Mount Vernon Group for schematic design work.
The City Council had previously appropriated $475,000 to pay for this work as part of a feasibility study for the project. Eighty percent of money will be reimbursed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).
Holyoke Public Schools is rezoning to create distinct elementary and middle schools for fall 2023, while also reimaging its middle school program to strengthen educational learning opportunities for students in grades 6-8.
As part of the rezoning process, Holyoke has been considering the construction of a new middle school to replace what the district called in a press release the “poorly designed, energy-inefficient” William R. Peck Middle School that no longer meets the needs of a modern education.
Under the rezoning plan, the Peck building will be closed at the end of this school year. Sullivan School, Holyoke STEM and Metcalf Middle School will serve students in grades 6-8 beginning in fall 2023.
The city, Holyoke Public Schools and the MSBA are working together to try and build a new middle school for approximately 550 grades 6-8 students. The MSBA reimburses a portion of elligible costs associated with new school building projects to help ease the burden place on communities.
The city’s decision to select Mount Vernon Group’s proposal followed a four-month process of soliciting and reviewing proposals under the MSBA’s Model School Progrm. The School Building Committee conducted interviews with three architecture and design firms, which included Flansburgh, Jones Whitsett, and Mount Vernon Group.
Jones Whitsett withdrew from consideration in December 2022. Second-round interviews were conducted on Jan. 12 with the remaining two firms before the School Building Committee voted 11-2 to move forward with negotiations with Mount Vernon Group.
Mount Vernon Group’s recent project list include Chicopee High School, Chicopee Comprehensive High School, Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham, Athol Community Elementary School, Harris Brook Elementary School in Ludlow, and Goodnow Brother Elementary School in Marlborough. All of these projects were completed on time or early, with final costs coming in at or under budget according to the district.
Holyoke Public Schools’ Chief of Strategy and Turnaround Erin Linville spoke with Reminder Publishing and said there is a lot of support within the community to get this project approved for the students of Holyoke.
“It’s still a lot of money to build a new school obviously and so what’s going to be really important with this next phase that we’re at in schematic design,” Linville said. “This April 27 is the submission deadline to the MSBA. At the end of that period of time we will know, hey this is how much we expect the building to cost. This is including the demolition of the existing Peck building, getting the site ready and then new construction for the building.”
Linville said at that point the city decides on their bond for construction and map out what their annual payments would be on their end of the bill.
If later funding is approved by the City Council and the MSBA, the existing Peck School would be demolished, and a new school would be built at that site by fall 2025 or 2026. Students assigned to Holyoke STEM and Metcalf Middle would then attend the new school built on the site of Peck School.
If funding for new construction is not approved, students from Holyoke STEM and Metcalf Middle would move back into the existing Peck building. In that scenario, while the district and city would continue to work to upgrade the existing facility to the extent possible, but there would be many limitations, especially due to funding.
“This school, this mayor, the superintendent and the School Building Committee has been really committed. They definitely want to build a great school for Holyoke and know that our students and staff deserve a new school,” Linville said. “It’s been a decade since we’ve had a new school. But [the parties involved] want to do it in a way that we’re being good stewards of the taxpayer dollar and recognizing that the city has other needs too.”
Linville doesn’t know what the next move is if the proposal is rejected, or the city does not properly allocated funding through the budget but said at first it would be minimal enhancements based on funding to improve the existing and already lacking peck Building as that would need to be reutilized if no new option would be coming. She also noted the Model School Program option combined with the resume of Mount Vernon Group made the partnership ideal in being cost efficient.
In 2018, it was estimated that renovating Peck just to bring it up to code would cost $59 million according to the district’s release, while renovating Peck to bring the building up to code and meet educational goals would cost $72 million. These costs would fall 100 percent on the shoulders of the city and the MSBA would not be involved.
“It’s not even affordable [renovating the building] and then you still have this building that’s not meeting the educational needs of the students,” Linville said.
While this would be a failure scenario for the city and district, Linville remains optimistic on behalf of the district and is “hopefully” holding her breath until the proposal is officially accepted by the MSBA.
“It’s really a thrilling time, I’m so excited. I’m excited that we’re able to move forward to the phase where we have the project manager on board, the architect on board, and that we feel really hopeful that we’ll be able to develop a passable school solution that’s within the city’s finances,” Linville said.
Linville credited all facets of the city involved in the work being done to this point and reiterated there were many involved who wanted to get this project done.
Mount Vernon Group is expected to complete the design work for the proposed new middle school in late April so it can be submitted to the MSBA for review and consideration. The city of Holyoke anticipates the MSBA will vote on June 27 to approve the project and allocate its share of the funding needed to construct a new middle school.
In May or June, Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia and members of the School Building Committee are expected to submit a financial request to the City Council to cover the city’s share of the costs for constructing the new school. The City Council would then need to vote on that request after most likely referring it to the Finance Committee.
Linville said hopes are the City Council can allocate the funding that will be needed before the MSBA vote as to avoid conflicts with summer recess for the council. The district remains working in the meantime according to Linville as they have taken another step toward filling a need of Holyoke students.
Public information sessions to share progress on the middle school building project and to solicit input from families and the community will take place in-person on April 5 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at a location to be determined and virtually on April 10 from 12 to 1 p.m.
Linville encourages those interested in learning more to visit the district’s website and the public meetings of the New School Building Committee.