Chairperson:
Christine Allen, member, North Andover School Board


Vice Chairperson:
Tracy Watson

Committee Members:    
Connors, Marylou; Crescitelli, Dawn; Dunbar, Patty; Fortado, Steve; Gilligan, Greg; Karelas, Christine; Kline, Beth; Kozol, Lisa; Landre, Joyce; Lathrop, Pam; Limpert, Stan; Long, Bryan; McAdam, Sean; McCarthy, Marylou; Pristash, Leanna; Scarpa, Jenn; Von Kummer, Judy

Assessment Objective:
1. Determine current use and state of all schools — elementary, middle, and high
2. Determine intended use of each school, esp. its "design" capacity
3. Identify capacity issues by school
4. Prepare findings

Assessment Approach:
1. Survey each school
2. Compile summary information for each school
3. Identify capacity issues for each school
4. Summarize findings

Meeting Held:    
May 31, 2007
June 20, 2007

Tasks Accomplished:
Bradstreet building surveyed; verbal report given to School Board on June 21, 2007
Issues:
1. Elementary classroom needs to factor in new staffing
2. Middle and high school classroom utilization more difficult to determine
3. Evaluation should consider moving kindergarten classes from Franklin

North Andover High School Facility Review
North Andover Middle School Facility Review
North Andover Public Schools Elementary Schools Facilities Review

Reconvened by the North Andover School Committee in Fall 2000, the School Facilities Master Plan Committee was charged with updating its 1996 report and recommendations. In 1996, the committee had recommended:

• Construction of the new Thomson School, resulting in a net gain of elementary classrooms in the downtown area when the new facility was completed in 1998.
• Determination of the feasibility of constructing a new high school on the existing high-school site, resulting in approval and commencement of plans to construct a new high school on the upper tier of the site of the existing high school.
• Purchase of land for eventual construction of a new elementary school, resulting in the town's acquisition of Foster Farm, between Foster and Boxford streets.

But some of the committee's 1996 recommendations had remained unaddressed. Consequently, the reconvened committee was charged with offering options for solving yet-to-be-addressed facilities issues, including:

• Retirement of the Bradstreet School, the system's oldest and most hazardous building, as a school facility
• Retirement of temporary, portable classrooms, some of which had been in service for almost 30 years

These considerations alone mandated the need for 20 "replacement" classrooms — more than the number of classrooms at any existing North Andover elementary facility with the exception of the Sargent School.

New considerations as outlined by the School Committee in Fall 2000 included:

• Preparing for growth in the town's student population through 2010-2011
• Offering options for implementation of neighborhood, K-5 elementary schools. (The system now offers half-day kindergarten in the Bradstreet Early Childhood Center.)
• Planning for the possibility of full-day kindergarten
• Offering equitable facilities to all students and their parents

After more than a year of research, discussion, and deliberation the committee recommended:

• Construction of a new school at Foster Farm. Because the community has a projected need for 39 new or replacement classrooms in 2005-2006 (13 more than at the Sargent School), the Town must make maximum use of the Foster Farm site by constructing facilities for as many elementary students as possible — perhaps in two "pods" of 400 students each that shared common core gymnasium and cafeteria facilities.

• Construction of a second elementary school at another location. Because a substantial addition to the Atkinson School proved to be a more costly and disruptive option, the Committee saw the merits of applying the approach used so successfully at the Thomson School at the Kittredge School—essentially constructing a new and larger building on the same site and razing the old structure when the new school is complete. Such an approach could save North Andover the considerable expense of acquiring another school site (at a time when available and well-located land is becoming more difficult to find) and also address the equity and administrative issues of continuing to operate the very small Kittredge School.

The Committee concluded its work by presenting its report and related recommendations to the School Committee in February 2002.

A full copy of the School Facilities Master Planning Committee Report is available HERE for download.

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