Framingham Officials Break Ground On New Fuller Middle School

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Cloudy skies didn't stop Framingham from celebrating the physical start to a brand new Fuller Middle School, with Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony drawing a large crowd of local and state officials along with the school's future students. The groundbreaking comes six months after voters in the city overwhelmingly approved a debt exclusion for the city's part of the $98.3 million building project. But, as many speakers in the ceremony made mention, the road to a new Fuller Middle School started long before December's vote.

The building was originally Framingham South High School, built in 1958. When the North and South high schools combined to create the current Framingham High School in the 1990's, the building was repurposed into a middle school and dedicated to local leaders, Dr. Solomon Fuller and his wife Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller. Their grandson, David Fuller, was present for the groundbreaking.

David Miles, School Building Committee president, said the work to get a new Fuller Middle School up can be traced back 20 years. Superintendent Robert Tremblay noted in his remarks, that the new school will help bridge an equity gap among the middle schools in the district and better prepare all students, who will be brought together in the high school.

Construction on the new school starts this week.

In December voters approved the debt exclusion and under the exclusion, the Massachusetts School Building Authority will reimburse $39.5 million to the city, leaving the other $58.8 million up to taxpayers to pay, for the most part over a 20-year debt exclusion.

December's vote was recognized as a historic moment in the city's school district by the Framingham Historic Society. A 'Yes for Fuller' campaign signs was given to the historic society as an artifact and features the School Building Committee members' signatures.

Fuller Principal Jose Duarte wore a grin almost as big as the student's at the groundbreaking and could only think of the future. "It's time that we moved to this 21st century education," he said. Tremblay was also keeping his focus on the future, noting that he's looking forward to watching students take their first steps in the new school and how the new physical layout will offer a more inviting entrance to greet students. "I'm really excited about the natural light in the school and the glass that makes learning so visible," Tremblay said.

School Committee member and School Building Committee member Noval Alexander said he's got his eyes on the future for the school, but being a former student, he's also nostalgic. "When I left here in '87, I was like 'Man, are they gonna build a new school," he laughed, adding while its been a long time coming, it's a bittersweet goodbye, "I'm gonna miss a whole bunch of this building ... there's so much wrapped up in this building." Alexander said he's already received phone calls from alumni who want to set up a final walkthrough of Fuller.

A more recent alumni who came to watch the groundbreaking was Brooke Harvey. Now a student at Framingham High School, Harvey graduated from Fuller in 2016, around the same time the city started to gain traction to study the building and make moves to replace it. Harvey reminisced on her time in the classrooms and on stage in the school plays, but she said she's happy to see a new school come forward to the benefit of younger students. "I plan on coming back to visit the new school, I can't wait to see it," she said.

The new school design includes a centralized cafeteria and an auditorium with 420 seats. The building will be three stories tall with air conditioning and larger classrooms. The gym of the new middle school will be 8,300-square-feet.

The new Fuller Middle School will be done by the 2021-2022 school year.