Push for New Stoughton High School Hopes to Move Forward

While the cards and letters keep being sent to the Massachusetts State House to request that a new high school be built in Stoughton, the process is in a holding pattern with the School Building Authority.

According to school committee member Deborah Sovinee, the SBA is "doing their diligence" on the Stoughton request.

There were corrections that needed to be made to the report, including the number of gyms from two to one, elevator service and handicapped accessibility for students to parts of the building, and the conditions of the science lab.

Students from Andrea Pires' class at the O'Donnell Middle School put together a petition and letters to be sent to Stoughton's state representatives in support of a new school.

Dr. Marguerite Rizzi, the superintendent of schools, praised the students' writing and sentence structure.

"This is well beyond their years," she said.

School committee chairwoman Joyce Husseini has been delivering the letters to the State House.

"I'm enjoying my visits to the State House," she said. "Ms. Pires, I treasure letters I receive from your class." 

State Sen. Brian A. Joyce (D-Milton), who has toured the school, wrote a letter to the SBA, calling for them to allocate the funds for a new high school. Joyce pointed out that the school's main part was built in 1923, and additions have left the facility "disjointed and undersized."

The senator said that the school doesn't serve the educational needs of the students, calling the conditions "deplorable."

"That's just the kind of letter we want to hear from our reps," said Sovinee.

At the Nov. 19 Stoughton selectmen's meeting, selectman Cynthia Walsh said she knew it was an "unpopular decision," but suggested meeting with Southeastern Regional school superintendent Louis Lopes to talk about the $32 million renovation that was done at the South Easton school to see if anything could be done in a similar way in Stoughton.

Lopes talked about the changes to Southeastern Regional at the selectmen's meeting and offered to meet with anyone to talk about what he experienced during the renovations.