For school, bigger may be cheaper

Cost would be reduced if existing plan is used

Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, built five years ago, could be the model for a new Norwood High School facility. (Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff)

Bigger may end up being cheaper in Norwood, which could provide the rest of the state with a lesson in how to build a high school.

Tonight at 7, Norwood's School Committee will vote on plans for a 234,000-square-foot high school, based on the five-year-old Whitman-Hanson High School plan. It's the first application of the state School Building Authority's Model Schools Program, which aims to reduce costs by having towns replicate an existing design rather than start from scratch.

Months ago, Norwood school officials approved an educational plan for a new high school, squeezing in as many curriculum components for the town's 1,100 students as possible in a 202,000-square-foot space.

Now, with a larger area to work with, officials will reintroduce items and programs that before, because of finances, were stuck on the wish list.

Using the "off-the-shelf" alternative would save the town millions, said School Committee chairman Paul Samargedlis. By accepting the cheaper design, the town would win incentive bonus points from the state that, when factored in, would reduce Norwood taxpayers' share of the cost to less than $31.5 million out of an estimated total cost of $75 million.

The state would pick up the balance. What's not to love?

Well, for one thing, some residents are bemoaning the fact that the 1960s-era school designed by architect William Upham would have to be razed. And Selectwoman Helen Abdallah Donohue, who said the high school is assessed at nearly $3 million, thinks the buildings should be recycled to another use, like other former schools in town.

Despite the opposition, Samargedlis said, "This town is united behind this. And now, we're where the rubber meets the road. We have to make a decision about if this plan fits our educational needs."

Much in the footprint can be shifted to suit Norwood's specific needs, Samargedlis said. For example, Whitman-Hanson has an active culinary arts program. Norwood doesn't. But Norwood can use that space to expand a thriving music program. And, by using the proven school plan, Norwood would get a bigger gym, auditorium, and cafeteria.

School officials have worked with Whitman-Hanson's architect for weeks to adjust the model while exploring how to incorporate historical components of the current Nichols Street high school into the design.

Samargedlis said replicating the school's white-columned facade and lighted clock tower can be accomplished by replacing the historical components Whitman-Hanson has embedded in that school's lobby. The result would be "net neutral," he said.

But that hasn't mollified members of the Norwood Common Sense Committee, which opposes the construction. That includes Donohue, who has suggested building the new school on a combined 33 acres of park and town land adjoining, and abutting, the Willette Elementary School, which is near the current high school.

Colleagues say Donohue's plan isn't workable because the acreage she has targeted is largely swampland.

Donohue does support efforts to include the current school's historic clock tower in the new design. But she still isn't convinced.

"Why bother to replicate it if they are so willing to tear it down?" she said. "If it's so precious, save it."

Samargedlis points to the savings. "The big thing is representing the residents of our town, and going to them with a price tag that is a lot less and a building that will allow those items that you need," he said.

To date, Norwood has contracted nearly $1 million of a total $6 million approved at a 2006 Town Meeting for the project. Funds have been paid to architect Symmes, Maini & McGee Associates of Cambridge for the original state-approved plan, which is no longer being used.

Payments have also gone out, or are owed, for site work and other details to project manager R.F. Walsh and legal advisers Garrity & Knisely, both of Boston.

Money budgeted and expended has been well spent, said Michael Lyons, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, describing a comprehensive three-year process to assess physical high school needs.

"This is going to work," Lyons said. "We have the best and brightest working on it. The feeling I have is excitement. The state is looking to us to step up and do the first one right."

In addition to the educational benefits, the environmental perks are numerous, he said. The plan calls for a 51-kilowatt solar electric system on the roof that supplies about 5 percent of annual energy use and a 20,000-gallon underground tank that collects rainwater to flush toilets and urinals.

The design uses natural light, reducing the need for traditional electric lighting. Large skylights and daylight "harvesting" controls in the cafeteria are also energy savers.

If approved tonight by the School Committee, which appears all but certain, the bottom line comes when the plan is presented to Town Meeting in April and then to a ballot vote. "If the people don't speak, they will be stuck with it," Donohue said.

Lyons said he understands the passion some feel for the high school, especially among former students.

"It's a big part of their personal history," he said. "I get it."

But, he added, "If they vote it down, there will be no high school at all."

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at mmbolton1@verizon.net