Northeast building project in ‘very early stages”

Published in the January 13, 2017 edition.

By DAN TOMASELLO

NORTH READING — Northeast Metropolitan Regional High School officials have begun laying the groundwork for building a new school, Northeast Metro Tech Superintendent David DiBarri told the North Reading School Committee on Monday.

DiBarri, Northeast Metro Tech Principal Carla Scuzzarella and North Reading’s Northeast Metro Tech School Committee representative, Judith Dyment, appeared at the school board meeting to give an update on the technical high school’s initiatives as well as the school building project.

Dyment said two new administrators are now leading Northeast Metro Tech. She said DiBarri, the school’s former principal, was appointed as the technical high school’s superintendent and succeeded former Superintendent Ted Nickole. Scuzzarella succeeded DiBarri as principal.

“We have some very exciting things going on at Northeast,” said Dyment.

DiBarri gave an overview of the proposed Northeast Metro Tech school project. He said the project was kicked off during a legislative breakfast last month, where school officials outlined plans to build a new high school.

“We are in the very early stages,” said DiBarri. “It’s too early to talk about money and other different things, but it’s something we really wanted to share with everyone. It’s an exciting time.”

According to Dyment, the project was well received by state legislators including Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo and State Rep. Brad Jones (R-North Reading).

DiBarri noted Northeast Metro Tech recently completed a “pre-feasibility study,” which is not required by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).

“We looked at three options,” said DiBarri. “We looked at a new building, a complete renovation and we looked at the possibility of a renovation with an addition to see what the best process would be for us.”

School Committee member Mel Webster asked DiBarri which option Northeast Metro Tech has decided to pursue.

After reviewing the different options created by architect Dore and Whittier, DiBarri said school officials decided the best option to pursue is a new high school.

“It was nice to see what the different costs would be in black and white so when we go to different towns, we can say we don’t want a new building,” said DiBarri. “We can show the other options would be much more expensive than a new building.”

Webster asked DiBarri if Northeast Metro Tech’s statement of interest was approved by the MSBA.

“We just found out we were not accepted this year,” said DiBarri. “But we feel confident going into next year because we knew there were going to be some major projects that were on the MSBA list that were going to take up most of the funding this year. We are looking ahead to next year, and we are much more confident that we will have a better opportunity.”

In response to a question from Webster, DiBarri said the project’s reimbursement rate would have been around 72 percent if the MSBA approved the Northeast Metro Tech project this year.

“Seventy two percent would be the minimum,” said DiBarri. “I am confident it would be a similar number next year if we are accepted.”

School Committee Vice Chairman Jerry Venezia inquired about the project’s approval process from the 12 communities whose students attend Northeast Metro Tech.

DiBarri said there are two options the regional technical high school can pursue.

“We can get unanimous approval from all of the town boards or we can go for a town vote,” said DiBarri. “Our goal would be to get support from the town boards. And if that didn’t work out, we would take a step back and look at the second option. But we want support from the boards.”

Webster asked how different municipalities would fund the Northeast Metro Tech project.

DiBarri said the funding formula would be determined by enrollment. He said a high reimbursement rate from the MSBA, coupled with the project being bonded for around 30 years, would minimize the project’s financial impact.

Webster expressed his supporting for building a new Northeast Metro Tech.

“I think it’s clear we need a new facility there,” said Webster. “I know it’s a financial issue, but I strongly support a new facility there.”

Venezia asked if the new high school would be built on the same site as the current Northeast Metro Tech.

DiBarri said the technical high school has a lot of land, and the project would be constructed behind the current Northeast Metro Tech. He said the old school would be torn down once the new school is built.

Dyment noted the current Northeast Metro Tech is built for 1,250 students. She said there are currently 300 students on a waiting list, which is why school officials want the new technical high school to be built for a minimum 1,500 students.

“We want every student who wants a vocational education to be able to get one,” said Dyment. “And in order to do that, we need a bigger school. It’s not a good thing not to tell kids they can’t come to the school. If you look at the 12 communities, almost every single one of them has a brand new high school. Vocational schools don’t deserve less.”

Additional initiatives

In addition to the Northeast Metro Tech building project, the three school officials gave an overview of several different initiatives taking place at the high school.

DiBarri said Northeast Metro Tech’s MCAS scores continue to be very strong. He also noted there are 85 Adams Scholars at the high school. The John and Abigail Adams Scholarship is a merit-based program that provides a tuition waiver for up to eight semesters of undergraduate education at a Massachusetts state college or university. For this scholarship, merit is based on student scores on the 10th grade MCAS test.

DiBarri said Northeast Metro Tech has been emphasizing “employability skills” this year. He said it’s critical for students to be working on jobs that are connected to the vocational careers students are studying.

According to DiBarri, Northeast Metro Tech is now a Level 1 school. According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), all Massachusetts schools and districts with sufficient data are classified into one of five accountability and assistance levels, with the highest performing in Level 1 and lowest performing in Level 5.

“We are happy to say we are back to being a Level 1 school,” said DiBarri. “We dropped down to Level 2 for the first time last year, and we really worked hard with our math department and got it back up to Level 1.”

Scuzzarella agreed.

“It’s not easy,” said Scuzzarella. “You have to put your nose to the grindstone, and the staff and students did a fantastic job in that short amount of time.”

Venezia congratulated DiBarri and Scuzzarella on Northeast Metro Tech being named a Level 1 school once again.

Scuzzarella said she is settling into her new role as Northeast Metro Tech’s principal. She previously served as North Andover High School’s principal for nine years.

“I am enjoying every moment of every day,” said Scuzzarella. “It’s wonderful seeing students put their learning to work immediately. As an academic principal at an academic high school, you don’t always see the connections students make until later. It’s been great and the kids we have there are wonderful.”