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The Wellesley Times (February 2007 edition)

The town of Wellesley is poised to make a decision about the future of Wellesley High School. For almost seventy years, the school has stood on Rice Street as the pride of our community. We consider it a classic New England educational institution. The1938 building was designed by an internationally acclaimed architect and was hailed as a high school on the cutting edge. The school continues to stand the test of time, and so we believe the planning for the future of Wellesley High School as an educational institution should go hand in hand with preserving and restoring the 1938 building. We recognize that departments of the high school have program requirements for improved and expanded facilities. We believe these needs can be met through restoration of the 1938 Wellesley High School building, upgrades to the high school’s 1978 Wilbury Crockett Library, and the addition of appropriately designed spaces.

Some groups in town think that restoration would interfere with the planning for a 21st century high school. We fail to see why. We have seen no effort on their part to consider the importance that restoration and preservation of the high school would have for the community in fulfilling its educational goals. Their proposed demolition of the present Wilbury Crockett Library would precipitate radical changes to the 1938 high school. Despite consultants’ reports, program reviews, and architectural advice, it is becoming obvious that town-wide consensus in the decision-making process for the high school project has been sorely lacking.

Last fall a group of Wellesley residents, Wellesley High School graduates, and former and current Wellesley High School faculty joined together to form the Wellesley High School Preservation Committee. Our purpose is to ensure that the preservation and restoration of the entire interior and exterior of the 1938 Wellesley High School and the 1978 Wilbury Crockett Library be included in the development of plans for an educational institution that will continue to accomplish its mission in the 21st century. Through The Wellesley Townsman and our website (www.savewhs.org), we have been providing information about Wellesley High School, past and present. Our articles, which are available on our website, have documented the architectural qualities and vital educational functions of the school. We have written about the site, structure, and landscape; the significance of the high school tower; preservation of the auditorium, lobby, and upstairs gymnasium; and the benefits of inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, our format has included “Question and Answer” items and a “What Needs to be Done” series that target specific facets of a public project of this magnitude.

Our committee also visited Boston Latin School and saw an example of how a restored 1922 public school can meet 21st century expectations. Further, we conducted tours of the interior and exterior of our 1938 high school. The residents and neighbors who were able to attend admired the superior materials and craftsmanship evident throughout the school and the natural beauty of the site on which it stands. At the same time, it was all too apparent from our tours that the interior and landscape of Wellesley High School have been neglected and urgently need to be brought up to Wellesley standards. These conditions, which can readily be improved, give a negative impression of the school to visitors and people passing by. As a committee, we have been trying to increase town-wide awareness about the high school project. Many Wellesley residents have urged us to continue to be proactive and keep the community informed about the need to preserve and restore Wellesley High School.

We have recently learned that a Wellesley High School Building Committee is being formed, as required by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for reimbursement of state aid for a project of this kind. We have urged that this committee be expanded beyond the membership requirement of the MSBA to include representatives from the high school neighborhoods, Wellesley’s institutions of higher education, the Parent-Teachers-Student Organization (PTSO), and the Wellesley High School Preservation Committee. It should also include an architect who is experienced in the restoration of historic buildings. This committee needs to be fully representative of the town and appointed without bias. Town-wide participation would make the decision-making process open and inclusive.

As is well known, essential improvements and repairs to the high school are long overdue. There is clearly a need to develop a comprehensive master plan for Wellesley High School and its campus to accomplish both short-and long- term objectives. In fact, the MSBA requires such a plan. A comprehensive master plan would enable the town to take a responsible approach in addressing the needs of the high school.

The absence of a sound master plan has given rise to such strategies as those endorsed by Concept “C.” This ill-conceived option for pursuing the high school project was selected by the School Committee in November 2006. It calls for demolishing the attractive and functional 1978 Wilbury Crockett Library and building another library in the present 1938 auditorium that would be dismantled for the purpose of accommodating it. Concept “C” proposes to eliminate the lobby and to move the high school entrance to the west end of the building. Also, the administrative offices on the first floor of the 1938 high school would be dismantled and relocated in a space now occupied by the locker rooms situated below the 1938 upstairs gymnasium. For much of the year this gymnasium supports a full schedule of school and community activities, but it, too, is slated in Concept “C” for conversion to other uses. A comprehensive master plan, properly administered, would enable the community to keep in constant view the relationship between the facilities of the high school and its mission as an educational institution. It would serve to prevent the adoption of a Concept “C” with its domino effect of needlessly demolishing or dismantling an existing part of the high school only to rebuild it another part.

The current project requires an open-minded and imaginative approach, one that recognizes the importance of the 1938 high school as the hallmark of what can become Wellesley’s state-of-the-art 21st century high school. We need to keep in mind that the 1938 Wellesley High School is structurally sound and historically significant. This unique and functional building embodies an educational heritage that we want to preserve and promote. We expect our elected and appointed officials to be sensitive to the values of the entire community and to recognize the opportunity to make a lasting contribution to the future of education in Wellesley. The success of this project depends upon achieving a true consensus in the decision-making process. We can work together to enable Wellesley High School to provide optimal learning conditions for generations to come with its character at full strength and its identity intact.

We invite all members of the community to join us in this effort. The Wellesley High School Preservation Committee meets weekly at the Wellesley Community Center, updates its website regularly, and encourages written correspondence (PO Box 81245, Wellesley Hills 02481) as well as e-mails (whspreservation@yahoo.com). Our website is: www.savewhs.org.

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