By Paul Leighton
Staff writer
—
BEVERLY — The city needs a new middle school, but just what kind of middle school is up for debate.
That was the consensus of many who spoke last night at a public meeting on the city's plan to renovate and expand the former Memorial Middle School into Beverly's middle school of the future.
The School Committee hosted the meeting to inform the public about a plan to move fifth-graders into the middle school if and when it is built, which wouldn't happen for at least four years. The grade five-through-eight model has been recommended by a subcommittee of Superintendent Marie Galinski's strategic planning committee.
Pillowlace Lane resident Tom Holak said he is in favor of a new middle school but is opposed to paying more for a larger building to accommodate fifth-graders.
"If we decide to spend an extra $6 million to $10 million to put fifth-graders in the middle school, I consider that wasteful and irresponsible on the part of Beverly's leaders," Holak said. "This is the taxpayers' money we're talking about."
About 50 people attended the meeting in the Briscoe Middle School cafeteria. School Committee President Annemarie Cesa said officials chose that location to illustrate the need for a new school.
Briscoe was built in 1923 and is not equipped to provide students with a "21st-century education," officials said.
"There's asbestos in the cellar, there's antiquated plumbing, antiquated heating, antiquated electrical," said Briscoe health and physical education teacher Deb Kline. "It's a beautiful building, but it's old and there are too many kids in here."
The city is planning to file a statement of interest with the Massachusetts School Building Authority by a Jan. 11 deadline to seek state aid to expand and renovate the former Memorial Middle School.
The project would cost about $40 million, according to School Committee member Maria Decker, but the price tag would go up 10 or 15 percent if the building were to include fifth-graders.
Decker, who chaired the subcommittee that has recommended the grade five-through-eight model, cited several advantages to moving fifth-graders out of the elementary schools and into the middle school. Fifth-graders would benefit from the technology that would be included in a new building and would have access to more courses and extracurricular activities, she said.
The move would also free up space at the elementary schools, which are so crowded that science rooms are being used for non-science instruction. The change would also create more room for preschool and full-day kindergarten classes and allow some special education students to stay in Beverly rather than being sent to more costly out-of-district programs.
The new middle school would be divided into a lower school for grades five and six and an upper school for grades seven and eight.
But Linden Avenue resident Leslie Fry said she has "grave concerns" about putting 10-year-olds on the same bus and in extracurricular activities with 15-year-olds. She said a 2007 Stanford University study showed that fifth-graders exposed to eighth-graders had twice the level of disciplinary problems.
"Old building or new building, I don't care. The safety of my kid comes first," Fry said.
Briscoe Middle School Principal Matthew Poska said his son attends a grade five-through-eight middle school in Swampscott and has had a good experience. But he acknowledged that Fry had "valid concerns" that would need to addressed.
Others said many schools pair fifth-graders with eighth-graders, including several kindergarten-through-eighth-grade schools.
"You can't say that in 20 minutes on a bus that your fifth-grader is going to be corrupted by an eighth-grader," Middlebury Lane resident Lorinda Visnick said. "I think it's a wonderful plan."
The School Committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to approve the statement of interest to the School Building Authority. The grade five-through-eight model will be mentioned in the statement, but Decker said it is nonbinding and that the city is not tied to the five-through-eight configuration.
"We would ask for the five-through-eight model, then there's an opportunity to change it," School Committee member Karen Fogarty said.
Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or by email at pleighton@salemnews.com.
