I’ve spent over 30 years in property management and construction, and so I wanted to see for myself how and why a new Whittier Vocational Tech high school was needed and so darn expensive. Whittier graciously provided an open house for anyone who wanted to tour the building, and it was easy to see why they’re clamoring for a new school.
Dozens showed up for the guided tour including elected officials and media people; everyone left a lot better educated.
The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that the current state of the school is untenable, especially considering a sewage treatment plant that is nearing the end of its serviceable life, so the district is going to have to do something, and there’s no cheap way out of it.
A new treatment plant would trigger full code compliance which means the entire building would have to comply with ADA requirements as well as fire suppression and sprinklers throughout. Consider the bathrooms.
We were told there’s only a few bathrooms on each floor that are supposed to service over 1,200 students and none are ADA compliant. I asked about simply building more of them and was told we could absolutely do that, but this is a masonry block building with concrete floors. The doors would have to be widened, drains added, and of course sprinklers throughout. Doable, but very expensive.
While the building looked clean and well maintained, it was not very well planned and engineered. There are drinking fountains next to electrical circuit panels, emergency showers with no drains, and something as simple as changing light bulbs is enormously expensive because it requires staging set up to reach the fixtures.
The building was built below the surrounding grade in some areas, which results in water infiltration and drainage problems.
Water is constantly entering the building and, of all places, it’s making its way into the electric sub station of the school where workers installed a sump pump to protect against flooding.
One of my sources told me that the school was pretty much built on a swamp, and as a result some areas of the building are settling, which leads to cracks in walls and ceilings, and doors that no longer close correctly.
We need to keep in mind that a vocational school teaches trades like carpentry, plumbing, HVAC, and auto repair, so not having fire sprinklers is something several on the tour expressed concern about.
Sure sounds like a massive undertaking to renovate an existing building that was so poorly designed, especially considering how renovations would occur while it’s being used, but if this was privately owned it would absolutely be renovated. Renovation is millions less than a new school but would cost the district more because SBA won’t subsidize repairs and renovations, only new construction. This is one of the perverse incentives created when dealing with “other people’s” money.
Voting against the project will likely result in a higher price later because Prevailing Wage requirements have scheduled increases (more on that in Part II) and material costs are likely to rise. We also risk losing SBA funding to other schools in line for money. But the voters and taxpayers of Massachusetts need to finally take a stand against our outrageous construction costs which are substantially higher than other states. Every road, bridge, school, etc. costs way more than they should and we should not accept these ridiculous prices as some sort of “new normal” that we’re powerless to change.
The good news is that local officials are on top of this and many were at the tour including Haverhill City Councilor Catherine Rogers, Newburyport City Councilor Ed Cameron, and West Newbury Select Bd. members Wendy Reed and Chris Wile.
And contrary to what I’ve seen on social media, Whittier Superintendent Maureen Lynch was most certainly present for the tour. I know this because I spoke to her myself and asked about the rumor that Consigli was given the job through a no bid contract. For the record that is patently false, they were awarded the project through the CMR or Construction Management at Risk process and no less than five other companies submitted proposals.
Mayors Kassandra Gove of Amesbury and Sean Reardon of Newburyport should especially be commended for not only being totally up front and open on their opposition but also because they’ve made themselves available to their voters with open meetings.
The bad news is there was not a state rep anywhere in sight. I’ve never seen an issue take fire across the district like this one has and we’re not seeing any leadership or direction from the lawmakers who can actually make a difference on this and all future projects.
More on that in Part III.
I have written to Georgetown's legislative representatives asking for a legislative emergency intervention & relief.
I haven't met anyone who opposes vocational education. The real issue is, how do the 11 member communities properly fund their own communities without negatively impacting those folks on the financial edge, fixed income senior citizens, and maintaing educational opportunities for students?
Our property tax just went up 14% and we are facing a Prop 2.5 override on top of the 14%. The proposed Whittier project would add, roughly, another $300/yr to $904 increase. We could be looking at as high as a $1500/yr
The Legislature needs to look at the funding of vocational education. They have specialized needs that mainstream public schools do not. Oh, and remember, each of the 11 member communities pay a yearly non-negotiable fee to Whittier. Our Town is over $1M and has been steadily rising.
I have to consider how my community will be effected not only my wife & myself. We're both in our middle 70s and on fixed incomes.
I'd like to the Legislature intervene and allow MSBA to issue a placeholder to Whittier so a NO vote wouldn't shuffle them to the end of the line. I'd also like to see sitework added to the funding formula,AND you are right "the prevailing wage law" adds substantial costs to public projects. Maybe that law should not include public school projects. School renovations should be added to MSBA funding.
Looking forward to Part 2.
There are more reasons to vote NO than there are to vote yes, but let that go.
Moving forward, we really need the State Legislature to look at vocational schools & funding in a different light than they do with traditional public schools. Vocational schools are specialized and need specialized buildings and equipment. The Whittier District agreement with the 11 member communities needs to be brought into the 21st century.
The traditional public schools need to figure out why so many of their students and families are opting out of those public institutions in favor of vocational, private schools, parochial schools or are choosing school choice to leave their home district.
Misters Mirra and Bowe have brought some insight & information into the discussion.