School Committee To Discuss North Andover Middle School Expansion

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — The North Andover School Committee will see a presentation Thursday on the proposed expansion of the North Andover Middle School. An expansion was declined the Massachusetts School Building Authority twice already, most recently last December. But the district again proposed an expansion this past spring.

The presentation lays out the need for an expansion as well as the district's plan. According to the presentation, North Andover's middle school classes are larger than those at comparable districts, such as Reading, Natick and Wakefield. They argue those large classes are bad for learning and also prevent other programming.

"We have had to forego the creation of Special Education programs at NAMS due to lack of space for these programs," the presentation says. "Students have had to be placed out of district instead of being able to attend programs in district."

North Andover Middle School has 1,118 students, while the the second most among comparable schools, Wakefield's Galvin Middle School, has 1,050. No others on the list have more than 1,000. The average class size is 23.6, 1.4 students more than the second place Arthur W. Coolidge Middle School in Reading.

The plan is to add a new science wing with "12 science labs, 12 prep rooms, two 2 art-related spaces and one marker space." There would also be renovations including conversion of six former science labs into classrooms.

"Overall, the MSBA received 70 [Statements of Interest] from 56 different school districts for consideration in 2018," Superintendent Gregg T. Gilligan and Town Manager Andrew Maylor said in a joint note to parents, students and staff last December. "In reviewing SOIs, the MSBA identifies the school facilities that have the greatest and most urgent need based on an assessment of the entire cohort of SOIs that are received for consideration each year."

Many districts apply three or four times before getting approval from the MSBA, which funds up to 40 percent of construction costs on school construction and renovation projects when it partners with school districts.

The committee will also be asked to improve the Fiscal Year 2021 capital improvement plan submittal, which asks for $500,000 total, a $100,000 increase over Fiscal Year 2020. And they'll have first readings on three high school trips, to Yellowstone, Washington D.C., and France.