Design Team to Discuss New School Feedback from MSBA

The design team responsible for the new Winthrop High/Middle School complex will discuss the feedback they received on the submitted schematic plans from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) tonight (Thursday).

The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. in the Lyceum Room of the E.B. Newton.

However, School Building Advisory Committee (SBAC) member Mary Lou Osborne said there is the possibility the meeting may be postponed. If it is the meeting will take place on August 15.

“With the summer here we realize many members take vacation,” said Osborne. “We need 11 of the 21 members to have a quorum.”

If the meeting goes on as planned Osborne said there will be some good news to report.

“There is a base of eligible funds for the project for the new school building plan,” she said. “Right now the base is 55.63% but we have been receiving incentive points that will get us close to the cost cap set by the town. So far we’ve pushed the base up to 59.97% which gets us closer to our goal.”

The cost of the project would be 82,950,000. The projected cost and cap set by Winthrop would be 42,975,000.

“We have been receiving incentive points based on the project being LEED certified and other factors which have increased the base of eligible reimbursement points,” said Osborne.

At Thursday’s meeting Osborne said one item that would be be discussed is the incentive points gained for the complex’s proposed maintenance plan.

“We were hoping to get 1% point for this but the MSBA has allowed us 1.34% which is really good news,” she said.

The SBAC will also hold a meeting on Thursday, August 8 at 6:30 p.m. at the High School. That meeting will be an update on the project.

The plan approved by SBAC is to tear down the existing high school and build a brand new facility

that would house both a high school and middle school that would operate independently of one

another.

In January the SBAC voted 14-4 in favor of

building a new Middle School and High School during a joint Winthrop School Building Assistance

Committee/Winthrop School Committee meeting.