Survey will help inform size, scope, and location of new PK-8 school  

The city is in the process of planning for Somerville’s next new PK-8 (Pre-Kindergarten to 8th grade) public school building. Due to the broad and significant impacts, both the city and Somerville Public Schools are committed to a robust and inclusive community-wide engagement process as various options for this project are evaluated.  

As the next step in this engagement process, all Somerville residents and members of the Somerville Public Schools community are invited to participate in a brief, 5-minute survey.  

Survey participants will be asked to share their perspective on what is most important when it comes to the size, location, and features of our schools including features used by students from all schools and by residents as well. Participants will also be asked for their perspective on funding a future school building project as well as other municipal investment priorities.  

The results of this survey will help inform decisions about the size, scope, and location of the school building project. This data will be used by City staff and shared with the members of the Construction Advisory Group (somervillema.gov/cag), which has been tasked with developing a recommendation to the Mayor on both the location and scope of a renovated or new school. 

To learn more and take the survey in either English, Spanish, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, or Nepali, visit somervillema.gov/schoolbuildingsurvey. For general assistance in taking the survey or interpretation support for other languages, please contact 311 (617-666-3311).

About the School Building Project  

The City of Somerville is working with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to deliver a state-of-the-art school building project for students. This project would address the needs of the Winter Hill Community Innovation School (WHCIS) and potentially the Brown School. 

While current and future WHCIS and Brown families will be the most directly affected, this project is a major commitment for the City and will have potential benefits and impacts for all Somerville’s schools and residents.  

Given the wide-ranging implications of decisions about the size, scope, and location of this school, it is important to hear as many voices as possible, including underrepresented families, families of incoming 0-5 year-olds, the full SPS community, and the broader Somerville community. The currently active community feedback survey is the next phase of this engagement process.  

Meanwhile, the state has recently advanced the City’s funding proposal. The city can now start a formal procurement process to hire an Owner’s Project Manager to oversee the project, and then a Design/Architecture firm.  

More about the project including an anticipated timeline is available at somervillema.gov/msba.  

About the MSBA  

The MSBA strives to work with local communities to create affordable, sustainable, and energy efficient schools across Massachusetts. Since its 2004 inception, the Authority has made over 1,750 site visits to more than 250 school districts as part of its due diligence process and has made over $16.7 billion in reimbursements for school construction projects. 

About the Winter Hill Community Innovation and Brown School 

The Winter Hill Community Innovation School (WHCIS) and the Brown School are the two oldest school buildings in the Somerville Public Schools. Students and staff from the WHCIS were displaced from the Sycamore Street building in June 2023 after a non-structural piece of concrete fell from a stairwell ceiling. All WHCIS students are now attending classes at their interim location at the Edgerly Education Center at 8 Bonair Street.  

The Brown School, the district’s only K-5 school, is the oldest school building in the district, having been originally built in 1900. It is the only school in the district that does not have a cafeteria or gymnasium. 

Learn More 

Throughout the community engagement process, design, and construction of Somerville’s next school building, information about the project, and additional opportunities to get involved will be shared widely through City and Somerville Public Schools channels.   

For more information on the project visit somervillema.gov/msba.