Schools
Stoneham School Building Committee Reviews Middle School Plans
Proposed plans for the Stoneham Middle School project at the Central Elementary School site were presented at the committee's session Tuesday night.
The Stoneham School Building Committee reviewed a preliminary set of plans for a new to be built at the current site during its meeting Monday night.
The Boston-based planning and architecture firm Tappé Associates presented conceptual plans for a fifth grade through eighth grade middle school that will replace the current elementary school.
The plan to use the Central School was selected by the School Building Committee last month, over an alternate proposal to build the school at the site.
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The plan would call for razing the Central School's existing gymnasium, leaving the school without a gym for two years until it is rebuilt as part of the new school.
A wing of the school for fifth graders would be separate from grades six through eight, but all grades would share the central facilities including gym, cafeteria and library.
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Tappé Associates President Charles Hay said his firm's plan closely follows a template from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), which must approve of the plans.
"Our next step is to take a space template to the MSBA and float a trial balloon," Hay said.
Hay included in the plans space dedicated to pre-kindergarten, to fill extra space in the existing building when it is converted.
After the meeting, School Building Committee chairperson Jeanne Craigie said moving pre-K into the new middle school would potentially relieve some pressure for space on the other elementary schools.
"We might be able to do pre-K, if it works and the MSBA approves," Craigie said.
Hay said the plan calls for 98,000 square feet of new construction, which could be reduced by decreasing the size of the classrooms.
Construction of the new building would take about two years, during which time the Central School would remain open.
The initial plans will have to pass an informal sniff test by the MSBA before the planning is worked out in greater detail.
"We need to get with the MSBA and make sure we're on the right track," Hay said.
The committee has scheduled another planning session on June 27 and again on July 11.
