Needham Hoping for Hillside, Mitchel and Pollard Improvement Funding

School Committee to submit statements of interest for Hillside, Mitchell and Pollard school projects.

Needham Hoping for Hillside, Mitchel and Pollard Improvement Funding

School Committee to submit statements of interest for Hillside, Mitchell and Pollard school projects.

  It may take a few years, but the conversation about expanding some Needham Schools. The Needham School Committee has completed two statements of interest (SoI), one each for the Hillside and Mitchell schools. The Committee is finishing up a third to send to the Mass. School Building Authority (MSBA) for work on the Pollard School as well. They intend to submit all three and see which projects are approved. School Superintendent Dan Gutenkanst and School Committee Chair Heidi Black presented these SoI proposals to the Board of Selectmen at Tuesday's meeting. The MSBA receives SoI for assistance with renovating or building school facilities from communities around the Commonwealth. The Authority then determines which projects it will fund …

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Letter: Building On Cricket Is A Bad Idea

This letter was submitted by a Needham resident.

I'm writing to let you know about an issue that I found out about six weeks ago: the potential loss of the beautiful green space of Cricket Field. This is a project that would impact all of Needham. The Needham School Committee has determined that if the Hillside School can't be rebuilt in its current location (because of access and environmental issues), then Cricket Field would be the best and most cost-effective spot to put the new school. I am so upset about this I can hardly sleep at night. The School Committee quietly pushed a pre-feasibility study through the initial vetting process along with Needham's Permanent Public Building Committee; they never asked for the input of the Park and Rec Department (Cricket is under the …

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POLL: What Should Be Done With Hillside and Mitchell Schools?

Weigh in on the four options presented at a School Committee meeting on March 7

At a meeting Wednesday night, the Needham Public Schools School Committee heard about four possible options for how to proceed with renovating/rebuilding Hillside and Mitchell elementary schools. The pre-feasibility study conducted by Dore & Whittier is just the first step toward developing a plan for the two buildings and will help guide the school district's statement of intent that will be submitted to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for consideration. The four options are based in part on a visioning workshop held recently involving school staff, parents and town representatives. Click here to read full summaries of each option. Though it's still early in the process, which of the four options do you think would be best for…

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Labs and Leaks: School Officials Consider Building Needs

Experts offered an early look at issues that should be addressed at Hillside, Mitchell and Pollard schools at the Tuesday night School Committee meeting.

Small science labs at Pollard Middle School and leaky roofs at Hillside and Mitchell elementary schools are among the problems the town will need to address in the not-so-distant future, experts said Tuesday. Representatives from Dore & Whittier Architects were before the Needham School Committee Tuesday night to share some of the issues they had found in their preliminary evaluation of the three school buildings. The study was funded by Town Meeting and is the first step toward deciding what exactly the town wants to do with those buildings both in the short and long term. All three buildings were built in the 1950s and underwent renovations and haven't undergone major renovations since the 1960s, according to Steve Popper, director of …

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Whiz Kids

Hillside Students Win State Award

Fourth grade, second grade classes recognized for efforts in raising environmental awareness.

Two classes at Hillside Elementary School took a trip to the Statehouse on Monday, May 2 to receive a special award for their efforts to raise energy and environmental awareness. George Goneconto’s second grade class and Amy Cicala’s fourth grade class were in Boston to receive First Honors for Excellence in Energy and Environmental Education, an award given by Richard K. Sullivan Jr., secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. The two classes had paired up earlier this year to promote the 2011 UNICEF Tap Project, which encourages restaurant patrons nationwide to donate $1 or more for tap water they usually would drink for free during World Water Week—with all money used to provide children in developing …

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