Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Massachusetts Elementary School to Open in October

  • By Matt Jones
  • 07/06/21

The new Wareham Elementary School in Wareham, Mass., is scheduled to open its doors to students in October, months ahead of its original projected opening in January 2022. Officials announced at a meeting in mid-June that construction was so ahead of schedule that the project was on track for completion by Sept. 15. The school is slated to welcome students on Oct. 12, the Tuesday after the three-day Columbus Day weekend.

The 159,100-square-foot facility is set to replace two of the district’s elementary schools (Minot Forest and Decas) and play home to all of the district’s students ages pre-kindergarten through fourth grade. The two principals of the existing schools will serve as co-principals for Wareham Elementary.

Project Manager Chad Crittendon reported in August 2020 that town’s share of the price tag for the new facility would be $27.2 million, significantly less than the $38.6 million approved by voters.

“We were both lucky and good, with respect to how much this project cost. We were lucky because interest rates plummeted,” said School Committee and School Building Committee member Geoff Swett. “We were good, in the sense that when the time came to make some big decisions, we made the right ones. We would not have made the right ones if the superintendent hadn’t gone along with the recommendations of the project manager.” Swett also noted that the state will reimburse the town for 75% of the school’s cost.

Construction began in early 2020 and continued safely through the pandemic. There was no traditional groundbreaking ceremony due to the circumstances, but in June 2020, the town’s population was invited to sign the last steel beam that “topped off” the facility.

The project’s architect of record is the Mount Vernon Group.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • Sam Houston State University Completes Athletic Stadium Renovations

    Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, recently announced the reopening of Elliott T. Bowers Stadium after an extensive renovation project, according to a news release. The university partnered with Stantec and DLR Group for the project’s design.

  • Building Beyond Simulation: Creating Immersive Ecosystems for Healthcare Education

    Health sciences education is one of the fastest-growing facility types in colleges and universities. The demand for medical, nursing, and allied health professionals is driving the creation and renovation of medical simulation training facilities that provide students with real-world experience through advanced simulation-based learning.

  • UT-San Antonio Begins Residence Hall Renovations

    The University of Texas at San Antonio recently began a $6-million renovation project to one of its residence halls, according to a news release. Originally completed in 1986, Chisolm Hall measures in at 120,860 square feet and is the oldest and largest residence hall on campus.