Statement from Anne Larner, Chair, Newton School Committee

In Response to Recent Communications from NNHS Abutters

1/26/04

In recent weeks the School Committee has received communications from a number of abutters on the Walnut Street side of Newton North High School (NNHS). These neighbors have raised issues about the latest drawings for a new school and parking lot close to their homes.

The School Committee wants to clarify for these residents and other concerned citizens the steps required before a final design for any school is chosen and which governmental bodies play a role at which stages.

We are currently in the process of a feasibility study. All drawings are conceptual. Right now, we are awaiting feedback from the State about our request to amend the original NNHS plans approved in 2001. Once we have some indication from the State what they may be willing to support, the School Committee will work with the feasibility architects to finalize the specifications for the educational program – the amount of space required for each aspect of the program such as general classrooms, science labs, physical education space, etc. We will also affirm our guidelines/recommendations for design and location of the building.

Once the School Committee votes on the educational specifications and establishes certain guidelines such as the desire to have a Main Street or the need for a central location for the library, the Mayor can propose to the Board of Aldermen an appropriation for design of the building and a financing plan to fund construction of either a new building or a renovation/addition hybrid plan. A design architect can be selected by the Mayor in a process set by law only after an appropriation for design is approved. Design would then commence under the aegis of the Building Commissioner (who reports to the Mayor) with certain approvals (including how to site a new school or hybrid) required by the Design Review Committee and the Board of Aldermen. The School Committee’s legal role in this later process is limited to affirming that the final design meets the “educational program” already approved by the School Committee and submitted to the State at the beginning of the process. We do not have a legal sign-off on the final design itself or on a site plan.

From our earliest discussions of Newton North that began last June, the School Committee has underscored that in addition to its focus on educational aspects of the project several of its key criteria for successful design of either an addition or a new school are minimizing negative impact of any structure on abutting neighborhoods, improving the impact of the school on traffic and parking, and improving the total aesthetics of the building and site plan. We will apply the same criteria to the design’s impact on Walnut Street neighbors as we did to neighbors on Elm Road, Hull Street or Lowell Avenue. While our primary obligation is to provide a quality building for our students and staff, we believe that we also have an obligation to be good neighbors and to make decisions/recommendations in a context that takes into account that we are part of a larger community.

In closing, we reiterate that we still are early in the long process of determining the details of a new or renovated Newton North. We welcome continued input as we proceed. We have and will continue to pass on to the Building Commissioner and the feasibility architects all comments about the NNHS project that come to us.