Senator Lewis Statement Regarding the SHS Building Project

STATEMENT FROM STATE SENATOR JASON LEWIS

I would like to publicly express my continuing strong support for the new Stoneham High School building project. As the Senate Chair of the state legislature’s Education Committee, I believe that all students deserve access to a high-quality public education, including excellent facilities for teaching and learning.

As we all know, Stoneham High School has needed to be replaced for a long time. Along with Representative Day, I advocated for many years for the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to accept Stoneham High School into its very competitive grant program. We were finally successful in late 2018, and since then the community has worked closely with the MSBA to move the project through each stage of their rigorous process.

When Stoneham voters overwhelmingly approved the local share of funding for the project in November 2021, nobody could have foreseen the unprecedented challenges that would impact the construction industry -- including supply chain bottlenecks, workforce shortages, and rampant cost escalation in raw materials -- and, as a result, significantly increase the projected total cost of the new high school.

The Stoneham School Building Committee, so ably led by David Bois and Marie Christie, has done everything possible to minimize and mitigate these unprecedented cost pressures on the project. Representative Day and I were able to secure an additional $1.3 million in state funding for the project as part of an economic development bill that the legislature passed late last year.

Rep. Day and I have also advocated forcefully with the MSBA that they should do more to assist Stoneham and other communities in a similar situation, although unfortunately to-date the MSBA has declined to do so. Rep. Day and I are also trying to persuade our colleagues in the legislature to provide additional funding to the MSBA, which could be used for supplemental grants for school building projects like Stoneham High School. We will continue to pursue all potential avenues for providing additional state resources to Stoneham.

In closing, I want to express my appreciation to the Stoneham School Building Committee, Stoneham School Committee, Stoneham Select Board, Superintendent Ljungberg, Town Administrator Sheehan, and everyone else who has worked so hard and diligently to move this project forward despite such difficult obstacles. I remain confident that the new Stoneham High School will be a tremendous asset for Stoneham’s students and families for years to come.