Lots of talk, but no action
6 months into Methuen High update, decision to renovate or raze still undecided

By Chris Young
MethuenLife Writer

Yes. Methuen will probably have a state-of-the-art high school sometime in the future.
Yes. It probably will be a renovation and addition, although that option is still open.
Yes. The state will pay for most of it, at least 62 percent.
No. The plans will not include a new ice rink, field house or auditorium.
Yes. The present rink, field house and auditorium will be open for use as usual during the high school construction.
But the application and planning process for a new school is very slow and no one involved will predict when construction will begin or end, nor how much it will cost..
It has taken the city two years of intense negotiations to get to this point.
The process of having the project accepted by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) has been slow and deliberate, but things are about to speed up, said state Rep. Linda Dean Campbell.
The city is now ready to hire KDA/Trident of Charlestown and Salem – upon approval of the MSBA – as the project manager to do another feasibility study to help the local committee decide the economy of constructing a new building or renovating and expanding the present one. That report will be ready in March.
The decision to renovate or build new will be based on cost, Campbell said.
“These two years have been long and detailed, but we are over the hardest part. It will move faster now because we are locked in. We are guaranteed to move forward and be funded.”
MSBA-funded money may be used only to build academic buildings, Campbell said. That excludes renovation of the skating rink, field house or auditorium.
The best news is that the Methuen High building project will be state-funded by at least 62 percent, possibly 68 percent, including a 2 percent credit for “going green.”
“Methuen is one of 10 school systems that falls into the 'preferred schematic option' stage,” for this year, said Carrie Sullivan, spokesperson for Katherine Craven, executive director of Massachusetts School Building Authority.
“Our primary objective is to work with Methuen to produce a design and cost analysis for a major renovation or replacement,” she said. “Methuen is more complex than some other schools.”
Despite rumors to the contrary, no plans exist for rebuilding the high school. Not yet.
“About a year from now, after we hire an architect, we'll have plans,” said Mayor William Manzi. “We don't have a design in place.”
“There never have been any plans for the high school,” the mayor said. “Ten years ago the city did a report, or feasibility study, that recommended renovation.”
But they never hired an architect to draw up any plans.
“This process is very different from any of the building committees I served on,” said Robert Vogler, School Committee member who is serving on his fifth Methuen school building committee. He also served on the committees to build all four of the grammar schools.
“It was a totally different process then and even from when the Voke School (Greater Lawrence Technical School) was renovated in 2004.
“Now the state is very involved. Every step of the way, the MSBA must vote and approve. We are very limited. Before (under the Department of Education system), we could do this and that as long as we met the schedule and the budget. Now, the MSBA is in control so they don't get another Newton North,” he said. (The cost of the new high school in Newton is approaching $200 million, leading to its being called “the Taj Mahal of high schools.”)
In 2005, the Legislature took control of school construction away from the DOE and created the MSBA which operates under State Treasurer Tim Cahill.
The state is prepared to spend $2.5 billion over the next five years for new schools across the Commonwealth, MSBA's Sullivan said. Under the new funding system, one cent of every five cents of sales tax is reserved for building schools. That money is set aside in a protected fund and cannot be used for other purposes.