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	THIS SPACE CANNOT BE SAVED (The Wellesley Townsman – 04/19/07) To the Editor of The Wellesley Townsman: “…This space cannot be saved…,” words uttered by the nay-sayers about the possibility of preserving Fenway Park before its rebirth as the premier baseball park in the country. The same negative sentiments are heard today about the prospects of preserving the 1938 Wellesley High School and its Wilbury Crockett Library. No wonder all the pessimism—with cuts in custodial services; failure to make long overdue renovations and upgrades to the locker rooms, lavatories, and plumbing and heating systems; neglect of the grounds and landscape; and ignoring the need to remove worn-out carpets throughout the school. Whether by accident or on purpose, all this leaves a bad impression on the different constituencies who have toured the High School of late. Two years ago, an independent facilities committee judged the seventy-year old structure more than sound enough to be preserved and restored. Its simple elegance and forward-looking design can certainly be brought up to 21st century standards in a fiscally responsible manner. Wellesley High School can thereby remain a distinctive historical and cultural landmark of the town. Upon close examination, what all the machinations are about becomes clear. The current School Committee and administration have orchestrated and cajoled various constituencies to push for a “gut-rehab” that ultimately would produce a new “state-of the-art” auditorium. This, despite the fact that the Performing Arts Department has won recognition for its outstanding plays in its current home. The present auditorium has not hampered their ability or their effectiveness one bit. Hopefully, those attending Town Meeting will not take leave of their senses and abandon the will to bring this space up to current needs and standards that a theater architect would be able to address. Too bad the town’s decision makers did not to see fit to visit the recent renewal and preservation at Boston Latin School, where conditions similar to those at Wellesley High School existed prior to a 2000 restoration project. The difference in approach clearly reveals that at Boston Latin School there was a strong sense of pride and identity to support preservation, whereas no such thing exists among Wellesley’s elected and appointed officials. The Latin School project’s cost was $ 30 million dollars. As a 1962 graduate of Wellesley High School and a thirty-two year member of the Wellesley High School faculty, I felt compelled last fall to join with friends and former colleagues to oppose what appeared to be a senseless plan by the School Committee to, in effect, “throw the baby out with the bath water.” From the outset, the decision makers were determined to radically alter the interior of the 1938 Wellesley High School building. To placate the “historical people,” as we were called, school and town officials told us that the footprint and shell of the original building would be kept, but the interior would be gutted and new construction introduced. By taking off the table any chance of preserving the essence of the original school, the School Committee thereby was free to pursue the real agenda of building a new “state-of-the-art” auditorium in the parking lot. The rationale, or if you will “shell game,” goes like this: tear down the Wilbury Crockett Library and build a smaller one in the present auditorium that would be destroyed for the purpose of accommodating it; move the entrance of the school to its west end; relocate the main office to the space currently occupied by the boy’s locker room beneath the upstairs gymnasium, which would also be slated for conversion to other uses. This domino effect then requires the construction of a new performing arts center, apparently a very high priority these days. As one might surmise, these massive dislocations and reconstructions would run into the tens of millions of dollars, at least 60% more than the cost of a preservation project. At the Town Meeting on April 23rd, townspeople will consider the School Committee’s and the School Building Committee’s motion to appropriate $ 797,000 to develop several architectural plans with cost estimates. I hope Town Meeting members support a measure to adopt at least one plan that takes into account and employs preservation as the keystone for the upcoming project. This will serve to give the residents of Wellesley a real choice on how much they wish to spend and what they will get for their money. It seems only fair to allow for one of the several options to reflect preserving this unique piece of Wellesley’s cultural history. Gig Kerivan, Harvard, MA

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