School Committee to Examine Cost of Clapp School Versus Portables as ‘Swing Space’

Students at the may start their summer vacation one day earlier than their peers next month, on Friday, June 24 instead of Monday, June 27, when the school will close.

Clapp-Goodyear students and their teachers will be moving out of that building at the end of this school year. Students will transfer into the and the .

The Woburn Teachers Association told school Supt. Mark Donovan Monday that Clapp-Goodyear teachers could use time to prepare for the move, Donovan said this morning. Donovan said he suggested that the last day of school at that school could be student-free.

What will become of the Clapp School after students, teachers and staff leave? 

That depends on the cost of keeping the school insured and maintained until and when it might be used for “swing space” when the and  schools are combined into one new school, in an estimated five years, according to discussion at a School Committee Resource Subcommittee meeting this morning.

The only alternative to using the Clapp School for swing space is putting portable classrooms at the , School Committee member Dr. John Wells said at the meeting.

Wells asked for numbers to compare the costs of using the Clapp School versus portable classrooms for swing space. If the numbers are close, the School Committee would have to make a judgment call, Wells said.

The School Committee had hoped to lease the Clapp School for up to five years to an educational institution and then use it as “swing space” during the next school construction project.

No one filed a proposal with the city to use that space.

Portables at the Altavesta would be reimbursable by the state at the same rate as the school construction project, Clapp School neighborhood resident and Ward 1 Alderman Rosa DiTucci said from the audience.

Since the Clapp School is under school committee jurisdiction, the school department must keep it up, said Joseph Elia, school assistant of facilities and operation.

The vacant building will be used for storage, Elia said. The insurance company will insure the building if it is used for storage, provided that heat and utilities remain on and the building is checked two to three times a week, he said. 

“We don’t want a Tarkey School situation” at the Clapp, said School Committee member and subcommittee Chairman Joseph Crowley.

Portable classrooms at the Clapp School have to come down by the end of August, according to David Dunkley, school building facilities director.

DiTucci asked the subcommittee to remove the portables as soon as possible. Kids congregate behind the portables in the summer, she said. 

The school department needs occupation permits at the new Goodyear School, Crowley replied.

The drop-off area at the Clapp School must also be removed, DiTucci said, per the state attorney general’s office. It’s on protected land, she said.

That would be the city’s responsibility, Dunkley said.