New Framingham Elementary School Plan Unveiled

FRAMINGHAM, MA — The Framingham School Committee on Wednesday began discussions on a long-awaited plan to build a new elementary school on the south side of the city.

The "optimal" plan would be to build the school for grades 1-5 along Bethany Road near St. Tarcisius Cemetery, and then renovate and expand the Hemenway Elementary building along Water Street to use as a pre-kindergarten to kindergarten school.

The plan would cost close to $200 million if funded only by the city, and would deliver the new Bethany Road school by 2024. The converted pre-K Hemenway would open in 2026, according to plans.

An architect hired by the district also provided two other scenarios. One would differ from the "optimal" option by building a smaller Bethany Road school for grades K-5, and a new building at Hemenway for pre-K to kindergarten. The least-preferred plan would be to simply build a new Hemenway Elementary building along Water Street.

Whatever plan the district chooses, the School Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to get an appraisal of the Bethany Road parcel, which would put the district on track to someday buying the land.

Although a majority on the committee were in favor of the appraisal, Mayor Yvonne Spicer asked the committee to not get too attached to one piece of land.

"I think it's very important we keep an open mind about this situation," she said.

The new school would address a longstanding problem in Framingham — that most students live south of Route 9, but a majority of schools are located north of the highway. Two of every three elementary students live south of Route 9, but only three of the city's nine elementary schools are south of the barrier, District 8 School Committee member Jessica Barnhill pointed out.

The reason the district is looking at Hemenway, built in 1961, is that it's the next school that will have to either undergo a major renovation or be razed, Superintendent Robert Tremblay said. The idea was already discussed with the Hemenway parent-teacher organization before schools closed due to coronavirus.

Hemenway is also not up to current size standards. If built today, the 580-student school would need to be about 24,000 square feet bigger under Massachusetts School Building Authority standards.

School officials acknowledged that the plans predate coronavirus, which will likely eat into local city and school budgets.

"You've got to do something here," Committee member Geoffrey Epstein said, noting the ongoing coronavirus crisis. "You've got to go on the offense. Everything we can do to move the school system forward, we should."