How I'm thinking about the Medford High School Project

Joe Biden has this quote that he attributes to his dad: “Don’t compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative.” This has been on my mind a lot as the conversation around the new Medford High School Project has begun to heat up this week. Our job going forward is to make the best decisions we can in the real world we live in. I’ve been working in municipal government for twenty years and I’m constantly reminded how fast things can change. I wanted to check in today to share some thoughts and things I’m seeing out there with our peer communities who have chosen to reconstruct their schools.

Where We Are Right Now:

         We’re in the feasibility study phase with our partners at the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) who oversee school building projects and assist Cities and Towns in funding them. Feasibility is the “turn drawings of ideas into a real design” part of the process. Our School Building Committee is exploring options, testing and ranking them, and tightening the project so it becomes something we can actually build and afford.

The Sticker Shock:

         Early project estimates show our High School costing an estimated $900M, give or take. That’s scary without context. Here’s what we know, though.

1. This is likely on the high side. Revere’s High School Project costs are coming down as the project scope becomes clearer, with the most recent monthly report showing that as projects are designed and bid, cost estimates are likely to come down. This is where the group turns unknowns into design.

2. Construction costs have skyrocketed since 2020. See the table below showing MSBA project price per square foot over time (source). Here’s my takeaway -- We should have done this ten years ago when new construction was $375 per sqft, or pre-pandemic when that number was $475/sqft. Unfortunately since 2020, the cost to build a new school has tripled. We can’t control that. Cities and School Districts across the Commonwealth are struggling under the weight of this reality. We’re no different.

   

3. Here’s a slide from Lexington’s school building primer showing that our cost estimates are in line and consistent with what’s going on out there in the real world:

   

   To bring it back to Joe Biden’s dad, we can’t compare this project to 2020, we have to compare it to what we’re seeing right now.

4. Our proposed High School is BIG! The biggest growth in size from our current building to the proposed is in vocational education. First, our current room sizes at the vocational school are too small for their needs, and this part of the building is expected to increase by 53,000 sqft alone. I cannot recommend enough that you read the space summary document in order to get a sense of where and how we’ll be improving our spaces. Based on our current school and preliminary space planning, we’re basically building two schools at the same time. Our current building houses quite a lot of uses when you take into account the vocational school, preschool rooms, and the Medford Family Network as examples.

   
   

How am I approaching this?

When I was knocking doors this campaign cycle, I spoke to almost everyone about how important this project is. Consensus was that people weren’t asking for magic. They were asking for basics:

1. Be straight with us and show the tradeoffs. I’m proud of the work that’s gone into this so far. The School Building Committee (SBC) is putting in the time, we have a great professional team on board, and we’re making progress. They’ve been transparent and focused and that’s the most important part.

2. Respect students AND respect taxpayers. don’t treat either one like an afterthought. This is why I’m here. As I said all summer, this building is for my kids, my neighbors kids, and will still be used when they grow up and have children of their own.

3. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. But also don’t let ‘good enough’ become ‘we weren’t bold enough.’ Nearly every person I talk to wants to support and improve our vocational programming, create space for expanded Pre-K, and encouraged me to consider this project a community asset for the next half-century.

4. Do something quick. Our current High School is inefficient, unsatisfactory, and continues to degrade and fall behind each school year.

 Where do we go from here?

For me, the next stretch is pretty simple (not easy, though):

1. Stay engaged during feasibility and design where the biggest overall decisions will get made.

2. Follow along  with the SBC to get clarity on what they’re proposing and deliberating on, why, and what it costs, but don’t pretend like there’s a secret third option where everything is cheap and perfect.

3. Keep comparing to the alternative: delay, patch, regret, pay more later.

Do you want to stay in the loop? Start here and bookmark it:

Project website: https://medfordhsproject.com

And if you want updates pushed to you (you do), sign up for the project newsletter. This is the best way to stay up-to-date on meetings, deadlines, and resources shared by the SBC.

As always, feel free to reach out at mmastrobuoni@medford.k12.ma.us