EASTHAMPTON — With the new Mountain View School on track to accommodate students in preschool through eighth grade in 2022, the city will soon decide what to do with the three schools currently serving elementary students.
In total, Mountain View School will accommodate students from four different school buildings: White Brook Middle School, Maple Elementary School, and Center & Pepin Elementary Schools. White Brook Middle School, which is located on Mountain View School’s campus, is set to be demolished. But the city is deciding what will come next for the elementary schools.
The city has heard “every single idea you can imagine” for what to do with the new schools, said Mayor Nicole LaChapelle, from repurposing the buildings into affordable housing units, a new library, or new senior center, to demolishing the structures to establish a parking garage or skateboard park.
City officials still need to determine which options would be most feasible and welcomed by the public, LaChapelle said. Some ideas have come from comments on Easthampton’s Downtown Strategic Plan, which received more than 400 responses. The city hopes to have a clearer picture of what will happen with these buildings by mid-July.
Community feedback indicated that the most popular priorities are creating a space that has diverse uses and is accessible for all ages; fosters open spaces for the community; takes financial considerations into account; and provides additional amenities for Easthampton.
The three elementary schools were built between 1896 and 1912 and would require significant upgrades to meet building and energy code standards, as well as accessibility measures, according to the Downtown Strategic Plan. The buildings have historic significance, the report states, but are not officially listed under this designation.
The new school should be constructed by the end of this year and will begin welcoming middle school students in January 2022 under current plans. All students are planned to be in the new school by the end of 2022, with elementary students are tentatively set to join middle schoolers at Mountain View in September.
Once students have moved to Mountain View School, the buildings “can go right on the market,” according to LaChapelle. The city plans to start its consulting process in May, with “additional opportunities for public comment and questions” down the line.
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.