Architects present four options for overcrowded Needham schools

Needham could fix its two aging and overcrowded elementary schools by reshuffling populations among five town schools, according to a pre-feasibility study.

Dore and Whittier, an architectural firm hired by the Needham School Committee to study Hillside and Mitchell Elementary Schools, presented four options for the two schools at a School Committee meeting on March 7.

According to Massachusetts School Building Association standards, the two schools house nearly twice as many students as they should.

The buildings are also in need of renovation. In 2010, the MSBA rated Mitchell a two on a scale of one to four, where a four denotes poor conditions and a one denotes good conditions. Hillside earned a ranking of three.

Dore and Whittiers four options are intended to solve those overcrowding and aging problems.

One [option] involves looking at Hillside and Mitchell and what we can do with the populations as they currently exist, said Dore and Whittier principal Donald Walter. That plan would either keep the current populations at each school; put kindergarten and first grade at Hillside and second grade through fifth grade at Mitchell; or put grades kindergarten through third grade at Mitchell and fourth and fifth grade at Hillside.

The second option, said Walter, involves repurposing Hillside and either combining the two school populations at the Mitchell site in two buildings, or in one building.

Essentially you would have two buildings under one roof. You would still have Hillside and Mitchell, but they would share some of the core facilities, said Walter. That option would concentrate upwards of 900 students at one site, far more than Needhams current biggest elementary school, Newman, which houses 641 students.

Option three would move High Rock, Needhams sixth grade school, to Pollard Middle School or to DeFazio Park. It would move Hillside to Newman and part of Newman to High Rock, renovate or rebuild Mitchell and repurpose the Hillside site.

Option four would install full-day kindergarten--long on Needhams wish list--lump grade five with grade six at Pollard or DeFazio, then relocate Hillside to Newman, part of Newman at High Rock, renovate Mitchell and repurpose Hillside.

More:
Architects present four options for overcrowded Needham schools