Schools

Officials Say Time for New Stoughton High School

Officials from the Massachusetts School Building Authority toured Stoughton High this week.

Stoughton needs a new high school, according to the school superintendent.

Massachusetts School Building Authority officials took a tour of the schools Tuesday with State Sen. Brian A. Joyce, Reps. Bill Galvin and Lou Kafka along with School Committee members Deborah Sovinee and George Dolinsky and school administrators.

'We're way past the sell by date in every way," said Stoughton Superintendent Marguerite Rizzi.

The question is whether the town will get the money from the state to invest in building a new school. 

"The building is outdated," said School Committee Member Deborah Sovinee. "It no longer fits the needs of 21st  century education."

The Massachusetts School Building Authority said there is a long list of schools seeking money to rebuild or build a new school. 

Dolinsky said there were schools in worse shape than Stoughton. The state has $500 million allocated for buildings.

"They are going to fund 10 or 12 projects," he said. "We have to keep fighting." 

Sovinee also said if the school decided to go with rebuilding the existing school, the cost could exceed $24 million. Town meeting approved $1 million to study a new high school.
The superintendent said the building has moved beyond repairs.

"Putting new boilers in isn't going to help with the children's education," Rizzi said.

She also said it's hard to put a timetable on when the high school would be totally beyond use.

"That's very difficult to answer," she said. "You have the 1923 part, the 1950 part and the 1960s part."

Rizzi said the age of the school causes problems for the students to get a 21st century education. The superintendent said the oldest part of the building was built for people who were much smaller and the structure isn't equipped to handle the technology needs. 

School chairman Joyce Husseini asked parents to write letters to their representatives telling them how the school conditions are impacting the education children are getting.


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