Stoughton Submits Proposal To Replace South School

STOUGHTON, MA — The selectmen voted unanimously last week to send a Statement of Interest proposal to the Massachusetts School Building Authority to consider a replacement for the South Elementary School. Schools officials estimate a new school would cost $25 to $30 million.

Joyce Husseini, the school department's director of maintenance and operations, told the selectmen the school is 61-years-old and has several issues. She said classrooms are undersized and there's problems with asbestos and lead pipes. The school, although one story, is not ADA compliant because it's a five-level building.

She said although the school is safe for the children to be in today, the building itself has physical limitations that would make long-term repairs difficult.

"It's a perfectly fine building for the children to be in today," Husseini said. "It's just really inadequate though, and it has some physical limitations to how it is situated on the site and the drainage issues that occur.

Husseini told the board DRA, the architecture firm that worked on the high school, fire station, and armory did a walk-through of the South School. DRA recommended replacing the school instead of making short-term repairs. Husseini estimated the repairs would cost $9 million, which doesn't include making the building ADA compliant.

Selectmen Chair Bob O'Regan said the town will put the statement of interest on the town's website for people to review, but acknowledge it can be difficult to get the entire community inside the school to see its condition.

“I know having people from the community show up in an elementary school and walk around and look is not feasible," O'Regan said. "But to the extent people in the community can visit the school and appreciate the school has served its time for the town, would be useful. This is not a waste of money."

Submitting the proposal is not an obligation for the town to vote for a new school, Selectmen Stephen Cavey said. It's simply the first step, which puts a new South School in front of the MSBA for consideration.

“This is just that we have an interest in doing this," said Cavey, "Nothing is in stone here.”