EASTHAMPTON — A plan to consolidate the city’s three elementary schools and the middle school into one building for children from pre-kindergarten to Grade 8 would cost between $100 million and $156 million, an ambitious project that school officials hope would be half funded by the state.
The figures for the new, 1,000-student school were unveiled at an informational meeting hosted by the School Building Committee Tuesday evening.
The committee spelled out building options — new versus renovation — at the meeting attended by more than 50 people. The single-school idea calls for merging Maple Elementary, Center Elementary and Pepin Elementary schools at the site of White Brook Middle School, 200 Park St.
The architectural firm Caolo & Bieniek is looking into possible designs for the site, including renovating and updating the 43-year-old building to make room for the younger grades, or tearing it down to construct a completely new building. All of the students would be under one roof, with plans to construct separate wings for elementary and middle school classrooms.
The district would seek funding through the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) which may reimburse roughly 50 percent of the project, bringing Easthampton’s estimated cost ranges from $50 million to $78 million.
All four schools also do not comply with current building standards and codes which are serious issues the school department is facing, according to Superintendent Nancy Follansbee.
“Our elementary schools are either the oldest or closest to the oldest elementary schools in the whole state of Massachusetts,” Follansbee said.
The estimated cost to repair the four schools and to bring them up to code is about $115 million. In this scenario, the city would pay the full amount because MSBA does not participate in code compliance and repair-only projects, according to Mel Overmoyer, of Colliers, an owner’s project manager required by the state authority.
But bringing the buildings up to code and making basic repairs would not accommodate room for future growth. Follansbee said the elementary schools are overcrowded and coat closets have been converted into office space.
“We have no room on the sites that the elementary schools are on to expand the buildings,” Follansbee said.
A new state-of-the-art building would help the city keep students in the district rather than opting for school choice to other communities, said Dayle Doiron, director of business services.
Since the new high school opened in 2013, Doiron said there has been a decrease in students leaving for alternate schools.
“Our students are energized and engaged as are our teachers, they have so many more benefits than they did with the old high school,” Follansbee said. “The same would be true for our elementary schools and middle school.”
The School Building Committee also said a consolidated school would save money and resources.
Follansbee said White Brook is the “largest consumer of electricity in the city.”
Along with energy, committee members said a single building would save money in emergency repairs, snow removal and preventative maintenance.
But according to Overmoyer, obtaining funding from MSBA is not easy.
“It is a competitive process and only the neediest of buildings and districts are accepted into the program,” he said.
In March 2015, MSBA approved eligibility for state funding for a new school building or renovation project in Easthampton. Later that year, the City Council voted to borrow $1 million to pay for costs of a feasibility study of Maple Elementary School, a requirement for state funding for new school construction through the MSBA.
With that money, Caolo & Bieniek drafted several designs covering renovation of Maple Elementary, consolidation of pre-kindergarten through Grade 4, and consolidation of pre-kindergarten through Grade 8.
In January, the School Building Committee and MSBA decided to pursue the option of a pre-k-8 consolidation.
The project timeline anticipates that construction could begin as early as 2019, and be complete in August 2020.
The next forum is planned for April and the School Building Committee plans to submit a preferred solution for the project to the MSBA in May.
A public vote on the funding for the project will be in spring 2018.
School Committee Chairwoman Debora Lusnia plans to create a ballot question committee with members of the community. For those interested to participate, contact Lusnia at dlusnia@epsd.us.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.