Councillor continues to ask for more input on high school building project

  As the selection process for a new Revere High School site narrows to two locations, some City Councillors are still calling for more public input and greater transparency for the process. During last Monday night’s City Council meeting, Councillor-at-Large George Rotondo introduced the latest in a series of motions requesting that Mayor Brian Arrigo request the Revere High School Committee Building Project team to provide an update on their scope of work from the enactment of this group until present day. In addition, Rotondo asked that Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dianne Kelly provide the student population growth per year from 2010 to present.

  “This is not about the school building group, this is about participation of the people,” said Rotondo. “We have a $300 million project that is coming before us, and we have a very minimal amount of participation from the public. When I review the YouTube videos that are presented on the website, and you look at the participation numbers there, it’s less than 1,000 people over at least four months; that’s a very, very small amount.”

  As for the student population numbers, Rotondo said he hopes the city will build a school of the future that will take into account the increased growth within Revere.

  Ward 4 Councillor Patrick Keefe, who sits on the school building committee alongside Councillor-at-Large Gerry Visconti, said he agrees with Rotondo’s desire for increased participation in the process. Keefe said current plans are for the building committee to be in front of the City Council on Jan. 10. “The project chair wants to present in front of the School Committee and then subsequently…in front of the City Council, and then to host a public forum that week as well,” said Keefe, adding that the building committee has heard that there is a desire to solicit more public input from the community.

  The site itself has been honed down to two locations, Keefe said – the current high school site and the Wonderland site. He said the plan on the table for the high school site would not include the taking of any nearby properties by eminent domain, as had been a previous possibility.

  “This is my issue; the entire process – the people didn’t have a say in it – it was just a select group,” said Rotondo.

  Keefe countered that the public has had a say through numerous public building committee meetings.

  “The problem is the process is being confined to a particular time frame, a particular use of medium, and that’s an issue,” said Rotondo.

  During previous school building projects, Rotondo said, the principals involved were in front of the City Council on a regular basis and provided it with regular minutes of their meetings. “We are the ones who are going to sign off on this – and they are choosing where this goes without at least giving us a weekly update,” said Rotondo.

  Keefe disagreed and said anyone can participate fairly easily in the meetings. “These are held on Zoom, so you can participate in your pajamas, on your couch; it couldn’t be easier,” said Keefe. “If the councillors – if Councillor Rotondo wants to join, you can join; you’ve chosen not to.”

  Rotondo said he has watched all the meetings and that when he has tried to participate during the meetings he has found the public input process difficult and off-putting.

  City Council President Anthony Zambuto noted that the City Council is not currently getting weekly minutes from the building committee, as it has gotten in the past during other school projects. Keefe said he will ask the building committee to begin to send the minutes to the council.