No Portable Classrooms at Altavesta School During Next School Building Project

Putting portable classrooms at the during an elementary school building project is not feasible for three reasons, School Committee member Joseph Crowley has told the committee.

Portable or modular classrooms would cost $1.2 million, Crowley told the committee at its last meeting on June 15—and, he said, that cost is not reimbursable.

Using modulars would be disruptive, he said.

And the Altavesta is far from the , one of the two schools being considered for the next school project—one new building for students from both the .

School Committee member Dr. John Wells proposed that the committee invite Mayor Scott Galvin and city officials to a meeting about a new elementary school construction project and where students from the schools under construction would be housed during the building project.

The School Committee has proposed to use the , which will close as a public school this month, for students during the next school construction project, in about five years.

A home rule petition passed by the state legislature a little over a year ago stipulates that the Clapp School building can be used only by the Woburn School Department until the school committee deems the space unnecessary. Then the Recreation Department will take jurisdiction of the building. The School Committee voted this past Feb. 8 that the building is still needed, as future swing space.

to a School Committee vote to rent the Clapp School in the interim, citing congestion and traffic. The along with sites in Melrose and Stoneham, and chose the Beebe School in Melrose.

The school department is carrying the cost of maintaining the Clapp School, Wells pointed out.

The School Committee voted to invite city officials to a joint meeting on the next elementary school building project in the fall.

In the meantime, committee member Michael Mulrenan wondered whether any organizations might need space for the summer at the Clapp School, such as the city library or Recreation Department.

Using the building would be a good idea, Crowley said

The portable or modular classrooms at the Clapp School will be moved in August, committee Chairman Patricia Chisholm told the committee, after an occupancy permit is issued for the . Some of the students who would have attended the old Goodyear, which is being replaced by the new Goodyear, have been temporarily housed at the Clapp School while the new Goodyear is being built.