Mayor and City Council agree on funding order for roof repairs at former EHS; quick vote on further upgrades to follow

Roof repairs help preserve a vital community resource; further action will alleviate overcrowded classrooms in Everett

By Neil Zolot

The City Council approved an appropriation of $10 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to repair the roof of the old High School, 548 Broadway, but delayed a vote on borrowing $72 million to relocate 7th and 8th grade there, in a Special Meeting on Monday, August 19. The $10 million appropriation required a simple majority of the Council and passed, 9-1, with Councillor-at-Large Guerline Alcy Jabouin dissenting and Council President Robert Van Campen (Ward 5) absent due to illness.

Action on borrowing $72 million – requiring approval of two-thirds of the full Council – was delayed because of Van Campen’s absence and Councillor-at-Large Katy Rogers having to leave the meeting before the matter was presented. In requesting the delay, Councillor-at-Large Stephanie Smith noted the building is in Van Campen’s district and he should be given the opportunity to vote. All present councillors agreed.

Ward 3 Councillor Anthony DiPierro motioned for reconsideration of the $10 million appropriation, which was voted down, effectively ending any further action. Ward 6 Councillor Peter Pietrantonio was the lone vote in the minority.

Repairing the roof will allow the building to be functional and house a preschool, the Eliot Family Rescue Center and the Broadway Boxing Club regardless of whether it is used for the educational purpose proposed by Everett Public Schools Superintendent William Hart.

In Public Comment at the outset of the meeting, Liliana Patino and Fiona Brymer of Eliot Family Resource Center and Joey Ricciardi and Dennis Wilcox of the boxing club spoke in favor of the proposal in order to keep their organizations in the building. “If you need to repair the roof so people can eat, repair the roof,” Brymer said, referring to Eliot’s food distribution program.

“We do a lot more than boxing,” Wilcox said, referring to the positive effect the boxing club has on local youth.

“What happens to our kids if they have no place to go?” Ricciardi asked rhetorically.

Former city councillors Darren Costa and Alfred Lattanzi also spoke in favor of the appropriation. “Once you allow buildings to foul, it’s difficult to believe they don’t need to be replaced,” Costa said.

School Committee Chairperson Jeanne Cristiano also spoke in favor of the idea. “We need classrooms,” she said. “And this gives us classrooms.”

In various debates on the matter over the last year, Mayor Carlo DeMaria argued in favor of repairing the roof, which had been estimated at $11.4 million, and allowing it to remain in disrepair would lead to the insurance being cancelled. “As long as we have a vote on the roof, we’ll be covered for people, but not on the integrity of the building [until the repairs],” stated the mayor.

Everett is one of the few communities with kindergarten to 8th grade neighborhood schools, although the Parlin School was once a Junior High School. A PowerPoint presentation by Supt. Hart presented to the Council indicated Parlin only has capacity for 700 students, but has 1,011 students; Lafayette, a capacity for 800, but has 1,022 students; Keverian, a capacity for 650, but has 869 students; and Whittier, a capacity for 550, but has 639 students.

Populations can rise and fall, although the October 2023 report on Everett High School by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges notes, “since 2020, Everett has experienced a population growth of 4.53%.”

The $72 million to be borrowed would be comprised of $60.1 million in construction costs and $12 million in soft administrative and management costs to alleviate overcrowding in these schools, which manifests itself in specialists like art, health, language and music teachers having to travel from room to room with carts, and hallways and converted closets being used for individualized instruction, among other things. “Overcrowding has an impact on the health and wellness and safety of students and staff members,” Hart said. “There are limited opportunities for movement within classrooms, which hinders collaborative learning and there is no space for teachers to collaborate. There is no room for social workers and clinicians to adequately help the most vulnerable students and lunches begin as early as 10:20 a.m. and go as late as 1:20 p.m.”

DeMaria said that assuming no growth in the City’s tax base borrowing the money would amount to $264 in taxes on an average single-family home assessed at $531,000. That is an academic number, however, because there will be some growth in the form of new construction or upgrades to homes and buildings, which will increase their value.

DeMaria said the city will pursue funding related to the historic status of the building, which was built in 1923, with a new section from the 1970s. “We’ll try to find as much money as we can,” he said.

Hart added that some costs for equipment and furnishing included in the proposal could be defrayed by transferring existing equipment to the building.

None of this would affect overcrowding at the current High School. DeMaria’s plan is to build a new High School at Rivergreen Playground, for which the Massachusetts School Building Authority approved bearing 72% of the cost, and convert the Elm Street High School to a Middle School. Related to that, in his remarks in Public Comment, Costa cautioned his former colleagues that use of the old High School is a temporary solution although completion of a new High School is years away. “I’m not sure the Council understands the full scope of the proposal,” he said. “Do you fully understand the plan and its alternatives?”

A distant mitigating factor could be closing some schools once the new configuration is in place, which would save operational costs, but that is in the far future.

Inevitably, the subject of if and how to use the old Pope John XXIII High School, 888 Broadway, which closed in 2019, came up. Hart was accompanied by Frank Tedesco of the Mount Vernon Group architecture firm and referred to an old and probably obsolete assessment by Mount Vernon – it would cost $76 million to renovate, not the $35 million cited by some residents during Public Comment. (Renovating the old High School could end up costing more than $72 million due to inflation over time as well.) Councillor-At-Large Michael Marchese said one option is fixing the roof on the old High School, leaving the occupants there be and using Pope John for classrooms.

“Pope John won’t accommodate what we have planned and house only 900 students,” Hart answered. “The old High School will house 1,100.”

With a trace of sarcasm, he also advised, “A lot of people become ‘experts’ when discussing this, but listen to the people you pay to do this work.”

DeMaria is sticking to his plan to use Pope John for elderly and veterans’ services and housing, although For Kids Only would probably stay there.

Part of the discussion focused on what would happen to the organizations in the old High School during construction. Tedesco said most, if not all, would have to leave at some point for a while.

Ward 2 Councillor Stephanie Martins asked where Eliot and the boxing club would go, suggesting moving them to Pope John, at least temporarily. DeMaria replied that Eliot could be housed in City Hall, which he feels has space being underutilized.

In her comments and questions, Alcy Jabouin concentrated on how use of all of the old High School for classrooms might work and how much it might cost, although that idea was not being considered. Hart noted he might be able to move 6th grade to create a 6-8 Middle School or 9th grade to create a 7-9 Junior High there, but added that it would cost millions more.

“I think we’ve spent enough,” DeMaria added.

“I don’t want to see Pope John sit there and deteriorate like the old High School,” Ward 4 Councillor Holly Garcia commented.

“Once you vote for this – the new roof and renovation of the old High School – the question to classify Pope John as surplus will come before you,” DeMaria answered.