ORANGE — After a month of scouting the town for possible locations of a new elementary school, or a major renovation or rebuild, architects will share some of their initial ideas this week.
Thursday at 7 p.m. at Dexter Park Innovation School, a public forum will be held by the School Building Committee, construction consulting firm Hill International and architects from Raymond Design Associates on the Dexter Park building project.
Dexter Park is one of nine state schools with a “Category 4” grade from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, demonstrating the need for major renovations or replacement.
Voters approved funds for the first step in solving the problem, a “feasibility study,” last January. The state is reimbursing the town 79.5 percent of the roughly $875,000 study, a study that will yield three best options to present to Massachusetts School Building Authority in May — at least one option will be an entirely new school, either at the current site of Dexter Park or somewhere else in town, and at least one will be a renovation of the current building.
Raymond Design Associates has been conducting the feasibility study for the last month, with Hill International managing the project on behalf of the town. On Thursday, Hill International will give a brief presentation on the overall project process, followed by Raymond Design Associates’ discussion of design options being considered.
There will also be a discussion of the “education planning process” being done with the help of consultants and school officials to ensure a new school meets fundamental educational needs. Public comment is expected to begin around 8:30 p.m.
The Massachusetts School Building Authority first designated Dexter Park as a “Category 4” school in 2006, with boiler and heating problems, asbestos, opaque windows and a leaking roof. The school has also become overcrowded since the Butterfield School — then Orange’s third elementary school — was closed in 2015 to help the town’s financial situation.
Dan Bradford, Raymond Design Associates project architect, has said every option will be considered, including possibly using the Butterfield School location for a new school, and thorough assessments will be made of both the Fisher Hill Elementary School and Dexter Park buildings.
“The least apparent option sometimes does surface,” Bradford said. “What we need to do at this point, and what we have done since we started, is make an assessment about every use of the current buildings as they’re set up… But we’re not limiting it to the real estate attached to the current buildings.”
Following a May meeting between the architects and Massachusetts School Building Authority, the town, Raymond Design Associates and Hill International will whittle the three options they come up with down to one, presenting that “best” option to the state in September.
Finally, Raymond Design Associates will have a final schematic design and proposal in January, and the state will then determine funding for the project. Residents should expect to vote on the project at the 2020 Annual Town Meeting. Hill International’s Martin Goulet has estimated the state will fund about 80 percent of the final proposed project.
Goulet, Bradford and others at Hill International and Raymond Design Associates have stressed the importance of public input early on in the process. Last month, they held an initial public forum on the project to gather ideas from residents. Many of the residents stressed the importance of energy efficiency and spaces for children to learn life skills like gardening.
There was also a strong push for the school to raise property values and have features like a public library that would make the school seem worth it to the average taxpayer, regardless of whether they have children in the schools.
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.