SOUTH HADLEY — The School Building Committee has cleared a major hurdle by selecting a $124 million design to construct a new Mosier Elementary School, even as officials warn that the town’s deepening budget crisis could jeopardize the project’s future.
The committee voted to construct a two-story facility that would accommodate 590 first- through fifth-grade students on the school’s current property, a move intended to replace an aging 1956 structure plagued by modular classrooms and infrastructure failures.
Architects for the project, Mount Vernon Group Architects in Wakefield and the Owners Project Manager Skanska will now turn the building schematics into a preliminary design for the School Building Committee to review.
Tracie Kennedy, a member of the School Committee and School Building Committee, announced at a March 6 meeting that the team has moved to the “design bid build” stage and intends to look for ways to reduce the cost of the project. Should the project move forward, the Massachusetts School Building Authority would reimburse 40% to 50% of the project costs.
The design chosen, one of seven options the committee considered, adopts a proposed grade realignment, which School Committee Chair Eric Frasier said residents supported at three public input sessions.
Superintendent Jennifer Voyik said at a Feb. 5 School Building Committee meeting that this option also meets all the educational requirements, gets rid of the modular spaces and keeps student disruptions to a minimum.
The two-story building would be built at 101 Mosier St. on the field space next to the current building. A road around the back would help with drop off and pick up traffic flow. The main floor would house the first and second grades, along with all the common spaces. Grades three, four, and five would be on the second floor, with the fifth grade in its own wing. A media center and science, technology, engineering and mathematics spaces break up the grades.
Mosier Elementary School’s aging infrastructure has become a challenge for Principal Cynthia Flynn and the school staff. New England’s wet weather has damaged the flat-top roof. The lack of electrical outlets means the current ones are overburdened, and there is no fire suppression system. The electrical system and boiler are old and costly to maintain.
Space is by far the biggest constraint. The architects that designed Mosier only considered classroom space, Flynn previously told the Gazette, leaving out therapeutic rooms and special education space required in today’s educational methods. As a result, the school added modular classrooms, which are partially falling apart.
The new design incorporates the necessary special education space while also ensuring student safety. All the common spaces like a gymnasium, cafeteria and music rooms are located at the front of the building, unlike now where residents walk through the halls to access the gym. Bathrooms would be located throughout the building, rather than only at the ends. There are far fewer entrances to the building as well.
Budget woes
However, comments on social media and at the March 3 town budget hearing questioned whether a project of this size would pass at the polls during the town’s ongoing budget crisis.
South Hadley Public Schools has a level-service budget gap of $1 million for fiscal year 2027. Five administrative positions, 17 student-facing positions, and all funding for sports and extracurricular could be cut in order to balance the budget. In order to provide level-services for the next five years, the town has proposed a $9 million and $11 million Proposition 2½ override vote for this year’s town election.
Select Board member Jeff Cyr, vice chair of the School Building Committee, said passing an $11 million override on the ballot could jeopardize the new Mosier School project. The town has already spent $1.5 million for a feasibility study, he noted.
Resident Christine Phillips agreed that there would be “no appetite” for another Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion override to build the school if the general override vote passes this spring.
“You’re only qualified by MSBA for so long,” Cyr said. If the vote fails, “then you get kicked out, and then you have to go back into the queue, which is going to mean another round of feasibility money, because the enrollment, climate, the class size, all that’s going to change.”
When asked this question at a Feb. 5 School Building Committee meeting, Voyik said this year she switched her position from one of scarcity to one of opportunity to ensure South Hadley students have the resources to thrive.
“My approach has not been what can we do without,” she said. “My advocacy will continue for what all students at all four schools need for the next several years so that they are successful.”