Tuesday night, the future of the Watertown Middle School may be decided by the City Council.
Councilors have discussed how to approach the rehabilitation of the school at 68 Waverley Ave. multiple times. Last year, the Council voted to make the project a priority in the City’s Capital Plan. This year, however, after digging deeper into the costs, the price tag rose significantly and City Manager George Proakis told the Council he would not recommend going forward with a full renovation or rebuilding of the Middle School at the present time.
With some members of the City Council, and others, not wanting to abandon the possibility of the project, School and City officials have looked for options to do the project sooner rather than later.
One of the motivators for pushing forward now with a renovation/rebuild is the school would have access to the modular classrooms constructed on Moxley Field to serve as the temporary high school while the new building is under construction on Columbia Street. Currently, the City is leasing the modulars.
City Council President Mark Sideris discussed a new piece in the puzzle for the middle school project during the Nov. 19 School Building Committee meeting.
“One of the things that has come up is there we’re looking at an option of potentially purchasing the modulars and then potentially reselling them at a later date,” Sideris said. “So we gave the numbers to the manager, and he’s looking at additional options right now.”
The Nov. 25 City Council agenda includes an item described as “Consideration and Possible Action on the Construction, Reconstruction, Renovation, and/or Reuse of the Middle School, and Consideration and Possible Action on Continued Leasing and/or Purchasing of Modular Classrooms as are currently in use for the High School Construction Project.”
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Council Chamber in City Hall, 149 Main St., and will also be available on Zoom and on Watertown Cable. The agenda also includes a presentation of the Council’s Budget Priority Guidelines for the Fiscal Year 2027. See details here.
High School Project
The School Building Committee received some good financial news on Nov. 19, when Christy Murphy from project management firm Vertex reported that the Watertown High School project is eligible for a multi-million dollar reimbursement for its solar panels.
“We’ve been working through it with a consultant to preliminary look through that,” Murphy said. “We’ll bring that to you next month. But that right now, for PV (photo voltaic panels) alone, is about $2.4 million.”
Murphy noted that the project may also be eligible for reimbursement for the geothermal system which heats water in the winter and cools it in the summer by sending it deep underground.
When the payment will come in is not exactly clear, Murphy said.
A concern on the financial side is, with about 91 percent of the project complete, all but $40,000 of the project’s contingency fund has been spent. Murphy noted that more than that remains right now, but that is the amount is expected to be left after the forecasted spending of the contingency fund.
Murphy also reported that the projected completion date for the high school project is still on schedule to be in time for the school to move from the Moxley campus into the new school during the spring break of 2026: April 20-24.
Sideris said he would like to be cautious and make sure that the move occurs when the school is ready to go.
“Christie and I have this discussion every single Thursday, and I don’t want to happen what happened with the Lowell School. And so we’re all cautious of that,” Sideris said. “I think we all agree that we want to be able to unlock the door and everybody walk in and not see anybody doing anything in the building anymore.”
Superintendent Dede Galdston said she appreciated the work that Vertex and the construction team at Brait Builders have done to maintain the schedule on the nearly three-year project, but she also wants the building to be ready before move-in occurs.
“I just want to make sure that people know that we support whatever schedule is best for the future of the school,” Galdston said. “While we would love to be in in April, I just want to make sure that you know that the School Department supports getting in when it’s ready to get in.”
The High School expressed its own appreciation for the project, particularly to Sideris, said WHS Principal Joel Giacobozzi.
“You have been nothing but supportive of our constantly changing needs, and just the schools in general,” Giacobozzi said. “And so I just wanted to announce here that you will be the honorary captain when the Watertown Raiders take on the Belmont football team this Thanksgiving. We are proud to honor you as the honorary captain.”