An informational meeting was held to update the public on the status of Winter Hill School.

By Ana Celerier Salcedo

Somerville Public Schools recently held an informational meeting for families and students regarding updates about the Winter Hill School. In attendance was Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, incoming Superintendent Dr. Rubén Carmona, Principal Courtney Gosselin, the Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management Richard Raiche, and various members of the public.

Most of the meeting duration was reserved for questions and answers from families. However, building and school year 2023-2024 planning updates were provided before that.

Mayor Ballantyne commented that the city has been sparing no resources regarding Winter Hill, bringing in outside resources and making every possible funding source available in preparation for the upcoming school year and building process.

“We have more than 12 million dollars in building and stabilization funds which is available to us to ensure that the Edgerly and the Capuano are ready and welcoming to our students in the fall.” Said Mayor Ballantyne. She added that in that funding, an allocated 1.3 million dollars would be used to carry out a feasibility study on the Winter Hill and Brown School.

The mayor additionally noted that in the city budget proposal that passed last week, she included a new position in capital projects to focus on the building plans for the Winter Hill and Brown schools. Superintendent Carmona also provided updates on plans for the 2023-2024 school year. Carmona stated that due to the ongoing assessments at the Winter Hill school that are foreseen to continue through the next month, the district, in partnership with the city, determined that the best option is to plan for classes for the upcoming school year to be held offsite. Grades 1-8 will be relocated to the Edgerly building, and Pre-K and Kindergarten students will be relocated to the Capuano school.

“We can assure you that we looked collectively with the city at various options in terms of where we could put our Winter Hill school in terms of keeping the school together, and unfortunately, there was no available space that really met all of our needs,” said Prinipal Gosselin.

Director Raiche provided insight regarding the long-term planning for Winter Hill and the short-term move. Director Raiche stated that additional investigations into Winter Hill were conducted to understand what happened. “At this point in time, there are no immediate concerns that the concrete that fell was not structural in nature. There is no fear that the building is going to fall down, and we do not see any evidence of cracks or any non-structural concrete that would mean that another piece is likely to fall in the near term.”

“We haven’t found the smoking gun to understand exactly why that piece of concrete fell. Of course, that concrete was behind acoustic paneling, so we didn’t have eyes on it to see exactly what those conditions were before,” Raiche added.

Director Raiche said that the best decision for relocation for grades 1-8 was the Edgerly building based on a limited timeframe. He commented that the city has begun moving forward with some improvements to the Edgerly building. “That building also has some water intrusion issues, so we are doing some envelope work, some brickwork, and some window cocking work at that building. We are also realigning some of the interior spaces.”

As part of the question-and-answer portion of the meeting, concerns were raised regarding transportation support for families with two different drop-offs and pickups and students who live further away from these new locations. The city currently doesn’t have the exact details on what will happen regarding that issue; however, the city commented that they are working with families in that situation to develop a plan to support them best.

Furthermore, concerns about recreational space for students at the Edgerly building were brought up. The plan as of now is to close off the parking lot at the Edgerly as an area for recess and work with the East Somerville Community School to ensure some time using their play structure for relocated Winter Hill students.

Carmona acknowledged that in terms of long-term planning regarding the situation at Winter Hill, there was a lot to discuss and that families and the community would continue to be kept up to date on these matters. In addition, he commented that any ongoing updates had been made available to the public at www.somerville.K12.ma.us/alert, and plans for a new project website are soon to come.

The day following this meeting, Wednesday, June 28, the School Building Facilities and Maintenance Special Committee met and discussed the Winter Hill School situation.

On Wednesday, June 28, the School Building Facilities and Maintenance Special Committee met and discussed the Winter Hill School that was closed due to concrete falling from the ceiling.

Ward 5 City Councilor Beatriz Gomez Mouakad stated that the administration for the City of Somerville is proceeding with the enrollment study and proceeding with everything required not only for the Massachusetts School Building Authority eligibility but also for having a comprehensive strategy for building a new building.

“We don’t want to build a building that becomes obsolete the day we do it. Once we are investing in a new building, we need to be able to have a building that responds to district needs overall,” said Gomez Mouakad.

The Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management, Richard Raiche, noted that a senior project manager position into this year’s budget and that the city and several different parties have been meeting to ensure whatever happens they are addressing the needs of everyone. Director Raiche stated that the situation has the attention of those at the highest levels, and while they are moving quickly, they want to ensure they are doing everything correctly.

Councilor Gomez Mouakad wanted to comment that the rumors that may have been spreading regarding building sites are unconfirmed as the city is not there yet. At the moment, everyone is gathering data to help shape the understanding of what requirements need to be met, and then the city will begin looking at site and building options from there, but at the moment, she made it clear that information is still being gathered; therefore, no building site has even been selected yet.

Director Raiche added to this by saying that once the initial planning and data analytics are finished, and we have a better understanding of the scope of the problems, that’s the point where they could start the process of community engagement. Director Raiche commented that the city wants to bring all the options and facts to the community once they are all gathered.