Clapp School: Woburn Public Meeting Scheduled for March 28

WOBURN, MA—City Council had been waiting on a special meeting request from Mayor Scott Galvin regarding the fate of the Clapp School building, and that request is finally here.

Alderman Michael Concannon told Patch that the mayor has requested a special meeting to discuss the fate of the Clapp School building for Monday in the City Hall Chambers at 7 p.m. . The meeting will feature a presentation regarding a plan to renovate the Clapp School facility into a library swing space.

The meeting is open to the public, and Concannon says that he expects there to be a large crowd in attendance.

A Change.org petition, organized by Michael Rice, already has 802 signatures on the petition. The petition hopes to maintain the Clapp School facility as a temporary location for the Woburn Public Library and Boys and Girls Club.

Both the Woburn Public Library and the Woburn Boys and Girls Club are set to undergo construction projects, and both are eyeing the Hudson St. building as a potential temporary home. The city set an April 1 date to transfer the parcel to the Woburn Recreation Commission.

According to the petition, the Boys and Girls Club will close for the year during their upcoming renovations. 

According to a report by the Daily Times Chronicle, Galvin said at a recent School Committee meeting that the process of the transfer to the Recreation Commission would complicate any plans to use the space for anything other than open-space or parkland purposes.

The Clapp School hasn't been used to accommodate students since 2011, and would need a significant capital investment in order to be safe for use, according to the Daily Times Chronicle's report. However, the report indicates that it could cost as much as $20,000 per month to lease a commercial office space during the Library renovations.