HOME Return
to Townsman Articles Next
Article HOME Return
to Townsman Articles Next
Article
 |
 |
||
| Wellesley's Fast
Track is Risky Business (The Wellesley
Townsman – 7/17/2008) By Paul Esposito, Guest Columnist It was with serious misgivings that I walked out of Town Hall on July 9 upon the adjournment of the Wellesley High School Building Committee meeting. The agenda that evening centered on whether the SBC should approve an all-new construction project, based on the model Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, that the Massachusetts School Building Authority presented to Wellesley two weeks ago. This is a 280,000 square-foot, $100-$110 million dollar option. The MSBA, we were told, has indicated it would support either this option or a renovation-addition option as a replacement for the $159 million, 313,000 square-foot “Hub.” That all-new construction proposal was unanimously voted by the SBC on May 15. As townspeople know by now, the MSBA determined that the “Hub” is far too costly to qualify for the 40% reimbursement Wellesley is eligible to receive. As the first order of business, the SBC formally rejected the two variations on the original MSBA renovation-addition option. One of those variations, formulated by Wellesley’s project architects, Symmes Maini and McKee Associates, included the provision for continued use of the 1956 wing, which would significantly lower the cost of the project. Next came a slide presentation of a visit to Whitman-Hanson Regional High School that members of the SBC and the School Committee had made on that very day. This was followed by comments from the audience, including the observation by one person that the design of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School was not up to Wellesley’s architectural standards, and that to him the building looked like a “bland box with architectural decorations sprinkled over it.” Then the SBC began to debate in earnest whether Wellesley should approve a project based on the model Whitman-Hanson Regional High School. At issue was the meaning of a “model” school and the degree of flexibility the MSBA would allow the town in building it. One SBC member called for more “generic” wording in the motion to adopt the proposal whose implications for the town, he felt, were far from clear. Other members suggested that the project should just be “guided” by the “concept” and the “spirit” of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School. The SBC’s liaison with the MSBA indicated that Wellesley would be permitted to make certain adjustments in applying the model, but he warned that the town has not been given the latitude to place its own interpretation on how to comply with state regulations. In an attempt to clarify the state’s position, one of the SMMA architects explained that the MSBA is in the process of gathering architectural prototypes, or “models,” for communities to build. After the SBC had dismissed the recommendation by State Treasurer Timothy Cahill to renovate and add needed structures to the current Wellesley High School, the model Whitman-Hanson Regional High School was assigned to Wellesley as the prototype for new construction. The architect went on to say that the model school concept has “some discomfort” for communities, because educational specifications differ from one school system to another. Finally, an SBC member, who had earlier said that the model Whitman-Hanson proposal was a “desperation effort to keep a new school alive” for Wellesley, indicated that pursuing this option was “a gamble.” This was the case because MSBA requirements for Wellesley’s use of this model were not known. Despite all these concerns, the SBC voted unanimously to approve a project based on the model Whitman-Hanson Regional High School and adapted to the Wellesley High School site and educational program, contingent upon School Committee approval. I am astonished that Wellesley would decide on so important a matter with such haste and enter into an agreement for a project on such shaky ground. Is the insistence by some people on a new school so compelling that the SBC is willing to spend countless hours and millions of dollars in pursuing a building type that was designed to fit another community and its educational program? The MSBA, as we have seen, is willing to support the renovation of Wellesley High School, so that it can meet the educational needs of Wellesley students for the foreseeable future. Are we willing to lose our distinctive and elegantly built High School to a standardized structure whose final form and function remain in doubt? The SBC chairman likened the process in which Wellesley is engaged to a fast-moving train that the town must board again, lest it be left standing on the platform. The agreement with the MSBA is not yet under contract, she explained, so we can get off the train, if circumstances should require us to do so. This is risky business indeed. Without a ticket in the pocket and a destination fixed firmly in mind, we are all too likely to find ourselves in the middle of nowhere and left with a school that nobody wants.;;;; Paul Esposito is a lifelong Wellesley resident and a graduate Wellesley High School. He is a 34-year teacher of Latin at the High School and a member of the Wellesley High School Preservation Committee.
|
|||