Support For School Study

Over the past 15 years the Town rightly identified its two largest schools – the High School and the Middle School – as priority projects needed to address aging and obsolete buildings. It is now time to address Norwood’s elementary schools, and I encourage Town leadership to take the necessary steps to fund a facilities master plan focused on the 6 elementary schools.

The initial planning phase of projects evaluates the broadest range of school options at the least cost. New schools have total project costs in the $1,000 per square foot range, so a $300,000 investment in a facilities master plan is prudent, cost-effective and minimizes overall risk to the Town.

This master plan could provide the Town with valuable information regarding potential options in the short-term, intermediate and long-term for these 6 schools. Evaluating existing building conditions and making recommendations for repairs or replacement would be only one part of this study. The study should also consider current school populations, and projected changes in demographics and enrollments over the next several decades. This type of information can inform School Committee in its planning. For example, they could explore larger, town-wide elementary school reconfigurations (i.e., K-2 and Grades 3 to 4), or possible consolidation of 2 or more schools. While this approach gets away from the “neighborhood school” concept, it is becoming more common, and is less costly from both an annual operating cost basis, and a capital cost perspective. If the Town is again fortunate to be invited into the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s (MSBA) grant program based on need, as was the case for the HS and MS, the Town’s portion of the cost of these larger new schools would be much less.

The Town’s elementary schools range in age from 58 to 113 years old. The average public school is roughly 50 years old, so even the “newest” school (Willett) is 8 years older than the average. The MSBA’s “2025 School Survey Report” evaluated 1,548 school buildings, and states that on average it’s been 35 years since the last major renovation in these schools. My experience as a former Director of Buildings & Grounds for the School Department is that it has been well beyond 35 years since any major renovation projects were done on the Norwood elementary schools.

The proposed master plan would evaluate replacement of obsolete building systems as well as building new schools. Anyone who has toured the High School or new Middle School, appreciates that teaching and learning has greatly changed since even the newest of our elementary schools (1966 / Willett) was built. The proposed strategic plan can serve as a roadmap to the future of elementary schools, and could include some combination of strategic renovations / repairs with new construction. In particular, the existing heating and ventilating systems are well past service life, which impacts indoor air quality and learning environment.

There is urgency to performing the study, due to both the poor conditions of the schools and the ever-increasing cost of construction. Construction escalation has been increasing in the 3%-4% range over the past several years. For a hypothetical new 75,000-sf elementary school, every year this project is delayed would potentially cost the Town an additional $3M. The sooner a facilities master plan is completed, the sooner the Town can submit a Statement of Interest to the MSBA for the first major elementary school project that may be recommended in the study. I urge the Board of Selectmen and Town Meeting to appropriate the $300,000 needed to begin this study.

Joseph F. McDonough, P.E.

(Former NPS Director of Buildings and Grounds from 2006 to 2011)

Norwood, MA