Westfield has been awarded $23 million by the state to use to build a $36 million elementary school.
Westfield Mayor Daniel M. KnapikWESTFIELD – The Massachusetts School Building Authority Wednesday approved a new $36 million elementary school for the city along with about $23 million to cover the state’s 64 percent share of the cost.
The authority, meeting in Boston, also authorized the drawing up of schematic designs for addition and renovation projects in Southwick and Williamsburg. Officials want to do a $48.7 million project at Southwick-Tolland High School and a $9.9 million project at Anne T. Dunphy Elementary School in Williamsburg.
At the same time, the authority also made about $2.5 million in grants under its Green Repair Program to public schools in Agawam and Hadley as well as to Pioneer Valley Regional School to make their buildings more energy efficient. Statewide, the authority on Wednesday awarded a total of about $172.3 million for school building, addition and renovation projects.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik, in a telephone interview from Boston, told The Republican the state approved Westfield’s school project and the city will advertise for construction bids by next March.
The plan is to have a new 600-student elementary school open on Ashley Street by September, 2013, said Knapik.
The mayor will now ask the City Council next week to authorize bonding the city’s $13 million share of the project.
“This has been a huge two-day stretch in Boston this week, all that benefits the city,” the mayor said. He was referring to Tuesday’s state approval of local property tax incentives for three companies planning to build or expand in Westfield. That included a package for Gulfstream Corp. which will decide within a week on a $20 million hangar project on property it will lease at Barnes Regional Airport.
The new elementary school will allow the city to close its oldest operating school, Abner Gibbs School and maybe Franklin Avenue School.
Elementary classes will be consolidated, leading to a redistricting plan that could impact the entire elementary system here by the 2013-2014 school year.
The architect for the school is Margo Jones of Greenfield. The new school building will resemble a 10-year old elementary school she designed in Williamstown.
Agawam officials were pleased with the announcement that its school system has been awarded $1,623,368 to help pay $2,954,386 to replace doors, windows and the roof at Agawam Junior High School.
“It’s wonderful in these economic times,” Agawam interim School Superintendent William P. Sapelli said of the news.
The doors, windows and roof at the junior high school are all original. The building was constructed in 1973. The interim school superintendent said the grant means the city will not have to pay the entire cost of the project and that the city will save on energy costs.
Hadley will receive $328,029 to help with the $674,036 cost of replacing the roof at Hopkins Academy. Pioneer Valley Regional School will get $229,420 to help cover the $424,536 cost of replacing its boiler.
Jay Barry, school superintendent for the Southwick-Tolland Regional School District, said officials are “quite happy” about the news. Getting authorization to do schematic designs is another step along the way to securing state reimbursement for a major renovation-addition project at the high school, he said.
The district would like to retrofit its existing building in Southwick, which now houses students in grades 9 through 12, to a facility housing grades 7 through 12.