Supt., school board hopeful on plan for reuse of former EHS building

By Neil Zolot

EVERETT – School Committee Chairperson Jeanne Cristiano and School Superintendent William Hart expressed concern due to the critical level of overcrowding across the Everett Public School district but are hopeful the City Council will soon appropriate $72 million to renovate the old High School on Broadway, to move 7th and 8th graders out of neighborhood schools to relieve overcrowding. “I can’t say how much we need this enough and we’re getting down to where we need to be,” Cristiano said. “I’m sure the City Council can iron out the issues,” a reference to concerns voiced by many City Councillors at their last meeting on September 9, about the fate of current tenants of the old EHS, including the Eliot Family Resource Center and a boxing club.

“It’s taking longer than I hoped, but the City Council understands where we are,” Hart added in reference to councillors’ comments on September 9. “They’ve acknowledged it’s a good plan and it’s important everyone has their concerns addressed. I want to respect that. I want everyone to be comfortable with the plan.”

Part of the frustration is based on the School Committee and Superintendent’s inability to act independently. “This is out of our purview,” Cristiano explained. “We can’t appropriate money to build a school.”

“Pieces of this are beyond my ability to do anything about it,” Hart confirmed. “The City Council wants to be sure the building I get is secure and we have enough space to do what we need, but I can only give assurances about things I’m in control of.”

As a former city councillor, Cristiano is sympathetic to the present councillors’ concerns, including Council President and Ward 5 Councillor Robert Van Campen, in whose ward the old EHS is located. “It’s in his ward and he’s doing his job,” she said. “Constituents have spoken to him. Their questions need to be answered.”

Time is a factor, however. Hart said estimates for construction and renovation are between 18 and 24 months, which could have the building open for students in January or September of 2026.

If it comes down to moving one grade at a time, Hart said, seventh would probably go first to give them as much time in the building and because eighth would only be there a year at most. He would prefer to move both together.

There has been talk of moving some of the current old EHS tenants, including Eliot, to the unused former Pope John XXIII High School, at 888 Broadway, but mostly facing Lafayette Street, close to the Malden line. On September 9, Councillor-at-Large John Hanlon said Eliot should be located “where our families can get to them. Their kids are our students. They have to be in the middle of Everett,” which the old High School is.

Having Eliot at Pope John would dovetail with the For Kids Only afterschool program there, but the City could lose Eliot altogether. They are located in Everett by choice and could be sited in any community in their service area, which includes Chelsea, Malden and Medford. Most of their patrons are from Everett because they’re in Everett.

Use of Pope John as a school is not viable according to Hart, based on inadequate capacity, although some in the city seem obsessed with the idea.

At their meeting on Monday, the School Committee met new High School Student Council members seniors Milena Antonio and Trevon Carrington, junior Kaylee Rodriguez and sophomore Kristin Calix. They were accompanied by their faculty advisor history teacher Carolyn MacWilliam and attended, in part, to support fellow Student Councillor and its representative to the School Committee, senior Kelly St. Fort, who succeeds 2024 graduate Sal DiDomenico in the post.

It was St. Fort’s second meeting as Student Representative. “It’s going great,” she said. “I have a good team behind me.”

She’s been involved in student government since her freshman year and quickly set her sights on being the Student Rep. “I watched the other representatives and was inspired,” she remembers.
She’s looking to go to college to study biomedical engineering and is applying to Harvard and Tufts among others.