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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Ribbon Cut on Newman School Renovations

Needham officials and community members joined representatives from the MSBA for an official "homecoming"

Members of the Needham community—including town officials, parents, students and school staff—joined together with state dignitaries Thursday afternoon, Oct. 18 for an official reopening of Newman Elementary School. The $27.4 million renovation project has been underway for more than five years and was completed just before the start of the 2012-13 school year. The project included a roof replacement, upgrades to the building's HVAC and electrical systems, a renovated auditorium, improved handicap accessibility and other work. “The MSBA is thrilled to have taken part in the improvements at Newman Elementary,” Jack McCarthy, executive director of the Massachusetts School Building Authority, said in a press release about the ribbon cutting…

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Cricket Field Group To Continue Efforts

While the School Committee works on an MSBA application, neighbors hope to find alternative options for Hillside Elementary School and to raise awareness of the issue.

“Save Cricket Field” organizer Sue Owen said she was not surprised by the School Committee’s decision Tuesday evening not to remove the field as an option for a future Hillside School site. But Owen said she and others from the Cricket Field neighborhood plan to maintain their efforts to seek out alternatives and to convince the town that building on Cricket Field is not the way to go. “I think the School Committee is committed to going forward, to finding solutions for the problems at Hillside and Mitchell, and we in the Cricket Field community are also supportive of finding options,” Owen said after the meeting, held July 10 at Broadmeadow Elementary School. “I can see where the Hillside community might be fearful that their school could…

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Residents Speak Out on Cricket Field Proposal

Area neighbors and Hillside parents presented concerns on both sides of the issue during the public comment portion of Tuesday's School Committee meeting.

Neighbors concerned about the possible use of Cricket Field as a site for a new Hillside Elementary School got a chance to speak out on the issue during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s School Committee meeting. But they weren’t the only ones with something to say. Parents from the Hillside School community also weighed in on the issue—asking the School Committee not to take Cricket Field off the table but to keep as many options as possible open for the future school building project. Elizabeth Bloom, a Nehoiden Street resident and Hillside parent, said she didn’t feel it was fair to take any options off the table. “It’s really just too early in the process,” she said. “It’s about more than what’s best for one particular area.” …

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Cricket Field Supporters Crowd School Committee Meeting

Neighbors are concerned about the possible future use of Cricket Field for an elementary school site to address needs at Hillside and Mitchell schools.

About 100 Needham residents—some wearing green-and-white T-shirts reading “Save Cricket Field”—showed up to the School Committee meeting Tuesday evening to hear about options for Needham Public Schools’ Hillside and Mitchell elementary schools, including one that would build a new Hillside school on Cricket Field. Despite being told that it was not the time for public comment, residents made it clear they were not happy with the proposal—which is one of about three main options being considered in what School Committee chairwoman Heidi Black called “the very, very, very early stage” of the planning process. Several people called out or shouted unanswered questions throughout the presentation by architecture firm Dore & Whittier, which was …

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Committee Considers Possible Options for Hillside, Mitchell Schools

Company hired to do ‘pre-feasibility’ study gave an update on their progress on March 7, outlining four potential directions for the district

With renovations at Newman Elementary School moving along—the temporary modular classrooms should be removed by the start of the next school year—Needham Public Schools officials talked Wednesday of what’s next for two other buildings, Hillside and William Mitchell elementary schools. At their regular meeting, moved to Wednesday, March 7 because of the primary, the NPS School Committee heard an update from Dore & Whittier, the company hired to conduct a “pre-feasibility” study of the two buildings. Both Hillside and Mitchell are considered “overcrowded” according to Massachusetts School Building Authority standards and have been identified as priorities in the coming budget years on the School Committee’s capital improvement plan. Hillside…

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