Schematic Plans for New Schools Given to MSBA

The design team in charge with planning the new Winthrop High/Middle School complex submitted schematic plans to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) last Friday.

According to School Building Advisory Committee (SBAC) member Mary Lou Osborne, the MSBA, the design team and SBAC will work on tweaking the plans to fit within the size and scope authorized by the Town Council.

Once a design is finalized it will go to Town residents for a vote.

“There will be some back and forth between the designers and the MSBA in order to get to a final design but that is pretty standard,” said Osborne.

Osborne said the project manager and design team have worked hard to keep the schematic plans within the caps set by the Town Council.

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. The cost of that project would be $82,950,000. The projected cost for Winthrop taxpayers after state reimbursement would be $42,975,000.

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.