Proposed Swampscott Elementary School Passes Town Meeting Vote

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — Seven years after the last vote on a new elementary school failed decisively, Swampscott town meeting members voted Monday night in favor of a $97.5 million plan for a new grades K-4 elementary school at the site of the current Stanley School.

The vote clears the way for the proposal to go to a townwide vote on Oct. 19 for ratification of what could be the new learning hub for up to 900 young students in the town.

Town meeting members also voted to approve a bylaw that would restrict the site of the current Hadley Elementary School from being sold for development as market-rate housing.

The 244 to 39 "yes" vote on warrant Article 2 Monday night also gives town officials the authority to negotiate an easement of property from the Unitarian Universalist Church needed for an access road as part of the proposal that was approved for $34 million in state matching funds this summer.

With the state matching funds, the town finance committee — which supported the new school — said the maximum annual net-tax impact of the new school would be $300 annually for the median single-family homeowner in the town.

School and town officials pushing for the new school argued that the three current elementary schools are vastly undersized and outdated as the third-oldest elementary schools in the state. Proponents argue that the timing is right for a new school based on student needs, historically low finance rates and the state matching funds that will pay for about 35 percent of the project.

The Swampscott Education Association joined Superintendent Pamela Angelakis and other town officials speaking on the merits of the current proposal seven years in the making during the three-hour special town meeting held virtually via Zoom.

Opponents of the plan now going in front of voters for final approval cite the size of the single-site twin schools — one of which will teach K-2 students, and the other will house students in grades 3-4, with a common area and shared resource area — compared to the current smaller neighborhood-based schools, as well as traffic and environmental concerns associated with the project.

When completed the new school would replace the aging existing Hadley (which was built in 1911), Stanley (1929) and Clarke (1952) schools.

A Hadley School Re-Use Committee has come up with three potential uses of that building should the school department deem it no longer needed if a new school is built — mixed-use retail, senior affordable housing and a boutique hotel, but Monday night's Article 1 approval only ensures that property will not be used for market-rate housing.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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