Wellesley okays $86.6-mil for high school

Big Mistake!!

Here is what will happen--it will cost 30 - 40% more than anticipated, fights will break out over how the work is being done--and when finished late and over budget--you will find that enrollment has declined. Too bad for the citizens--they have been duped again

New school buildings have been proven to 1) attract the best teachers, 2) improve morale and teacher collaboration, 3) re-focus students on excellence and make them feel important and 4) improve real-estate values. A school makes a statement about how a community values education of its children. Bravo to the town !

This is great for Wayland. Now that Wellesley's tax dollars are tied up in a building, Wayland can become much more academically competitive with the rest of the world (which is where the real competition lies) drawing education-focused parents to our town. Wayland can refuse to buckle to outdated thinking about what makes education valuable, and begin the drive to better schools. Don't be fooled by the paid-for TIMSS results yesterday - our shorter school days and years, our teacher-union-driven priorities, and our overemphasis on peripherals leave the best schools in MA in deep trouble when the competition from overseas is so much stronger.

It is ironic that the high school is on warning for academics and the proponents of the new high school say having a new school and hopefully good academics increases the value of real estate. What happened to the academics? I have lived through too many of these building projects in town - the dump, the police station, Sprague school, the library and now the ugly high school building. Where and when does it stop?

Poor Wellesley, if its the cost of the schools,
then everyone is moving to NEWTON.
All the "w" towns, Weston, Wayland, Wellesley, heads up.

The Massachusetts way! Sure glad I moved out of that state when I had the chance. Pay up, poor citizens

UH, this is Wellesley...they can MORE than afford it, even with 30-40% cost increases.
Only the creme de la creme for that town!

with the exception of Kenneth J Weinstein, good comments - uh ken..... you're wrong on 3 out of 4 comments. I am a teacher. Wellesley can't even maintain what they have (the grounds at sprague school are a mess)

Thank God for trade unions....our town in SC just built a HS...state of the art....for under 30 million....go Massachusetts. go Wellesley.

Is this the answer to the academic failings of the Wellesley school system? Does "throwing money at a problem" necessarily work? How about putting some of the responsibility on the STUDENTS and the PARENTS of those students?

That $130 million cost will increase to $180+ million by the time the buildings are completed. But new buildings with fancy furnishings do NOT improve student performance - only the students can motivate themselves.

Perhaps the

Hi JH Hill,
No, Schooling system can improve, Not only throwing the money but First your administration should be strong and educated.Most of student can never accept the responsibility but thees responsibility can put to their parents.Ya you are right just new building can not improve student performance.
Thanks

Can't wait for all these yups to get their pink slips and face reality! 86 mil during a recession, gimme a break! MORE MONEY THAN BRAINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel sorry for the seniors who have spent their entire lives building up the town just to see it come crumbling down on them. Who on a retirement income can afford to pay for this crap? It's absurd! Glad I don't live there!

Hey snyde, what town on SC built a HS for $30 million. We need those plans!!!!

I am an architect and boy, do I love towns like this. I'd get my ego out and let it run around a bit, but it would take up the whole page. Here's a dirty little secret: if you really want your kids to do better in school -try setting a better example. Try shutting off the TV . Try, I dare you, to live with out the TV or Interent or DVD player, or Gameboy, or Xbox ,or any of the latest distracting junk. Open a book that isn't a romance novel, or the male equivalent, a get-rich-quick-how-to-book. All that money, $86M, is a pimple on the butt of the money spent on this mind-numbing crap....

First time the roof leaks they'll want to tear it down and build a new school.

The town has changed so much..so sad. They just tore down Wellesey country club. All the new money has changed the town and ruined it. I grew up here and loved it. It was truly a great school system, middle class families where most had morals...they are pushing out old Wellesley and alot of snobby, new money types...

Didn't Abe Lincoln go to school in a 3 wall hovel? Didn't seem to hurt his ability to learn.

I run a road race that uses Andover HS as it's starting point. I'm always surprised how trashed the bathrooms are. Stall doors missing. No mirrors. No hot water.

Not nice.