A model customer for state

Partly in jest, this is one of the responses offered by Tewksbury’s town manager, David G. Cressman, about the perception that a good education cannot be obtained at the 51-year-old facility that is Tewksbury Memorial High School.

“There are some people who think if they don’t have a 2008 version of their school, that their kids are going to have a bad education,’’ Cressman said, adding that both of his children, as Tewksbury Memorial alumni, have graduated from college with honors. “Unfortunately, that’s what’s played out. I think my kids had a great education. Do I think the building needs to improve? Yes. It’s reached the end of its useful life.’’

The New England Association of Schools and Colleges agrees. The regional accrediting organization placed the high school on “warning’’ status in 2006 for reasons that included academics, a lack of financial support, and the condition of the building.

The district’s superintendent, Christine L. McGrath, said school officials have since taken significant steps in resolving the academic concerns, such as adding teachers, assistants, a school resource officer, upgrading computers, and developing college-level Advanced Placement courses.

While the condition of the building and a lack of financial support in the midst of a recession are “things beyond our control,’’ McGrath said, the department’s administrators are moving forward with plans for a new high school. This means it is very probable that the school won’t shake its warning status “until the day we cut the ribbon at the new high school. That’s when it’ll happen,’’ McGrath said.

With an estimated capacity of about 850 students, the high school’s population this fall is 1,020 students, McGrath said. While still suffering from overcrowding, Tewksbury Memorial High’s enrollment has been on a steady decline since the 2005-2006 school year, when it peaked at 1,206 students, according to state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education figures. Last school year there were 1,065 students.

Part of the decline can be attributed to parents choosing to send their children to Shawsheen Valley Technical High School, a newer facility with no athletic fees that boasts a high rate of graduates going to college, McGrath said. She added that about 90 percent of Tewksbury graduates enroll in two- or four-year colleges.

“Enrollment is cyclical,’’ McGrath said. “I don’t see an alarming drop.’’

School Committee member Dennis G. Francis said it is important for parents to realize that despite the warning status, Tewksbury Memorial is a fully accredited school. The district was also selected to participate in the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s Model Schools program for construction of a new facility, in which local officials adopt an existing design rather than start from scratch. The goal of the state’s program, which would also reimburse a significant portion of the cost, is to keep building costs in check. It was created in the wake of the Newton North High School replacement project, which is expected to cost almost $200 million.

The district was supposed to choose from among three designs approved for the model school program, based on the new Whitman-Hanson Regional, Ashland, and Hudson facilities, said Francis, who is also a member of the High School Building Committee, which is overseeing the project. However, the architectural group in charge of the Whitman-Hanson design withdrew from Tewksbury’s selection process because of the heavy workload stemming from having been selected by two other school districts, Francis said.

The building committee is scheduled to discuss its options, as well as interview officials from the two architectural firms that turned in proposals, at a 5:30 p.m. meeting today in the police station’s conference room.

“One of the things we want to do is build more than just a school; it’s a community building,’’ Francis said. “It’s also a way to get revenue back into the schools, which is a tremendous thing judging how the budgets are. I’m really excited about it.’’

The building committee, working closely with the building authority, is charged with selecting a design that can be tailored to fit one of two site options at the high school - one by a parking lot and a track and the other by an old field that sits atop the former septic system, Cressman said. The current high school building cannot be razed until the new one is built because there would be no place to house the students in the meantime, Cressman added.

McGrath said the goal is to have a plan proposal before the building authority by January, and before voters by February.

Because covering the cost of the project would require asking residents to raise their property taxes through a Proposition 2 1/2 debt-exclusion override, it would have to pass at Town Meeting as well as in a general election, Francis said.

“I think the big word with the high school, as I’ve talked to people, is patience,’’ Francis said.

“It’s a new undertaking for everybody. I know we’d all like to have the thing built in two days, but it takes time.’’

Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com.