High school will be focus of new panel

Local officials are looking for ways to deal with the aging Franklin High School, but say they don't believe the town's taxpayers would be able to foot the entire bill for a proposed $100 million renovation or a $130 million new high school.

The town is putting together a committee to assess the school district's building needs, and first on the list is the future of the 37-year-old high school.

"There are other initiatives in town and in the school system that need to be addressed as well," said Town Council chairman Chris Feeley, but the committee is "going to focus on the high school."

The school has already been the source of an architectural study commissioned by the town. Now, officials are looking for help from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, the agency responsible for disbursing $2.5 billion in state funds for projects across the state over the next five years.

Franklin's School Committee applied for the state's reimbursement program last year, but its request was not among the 83 projects given priority by the MSBA when it announced its first list last November.

Now, school officials are updating their statement of interest and will be hard at work over the next couple of months reexamining enrollment projections and how the building's problems may limit instructional programs, said Maureen Sabolinski, the district's assistant superintendent.

"Right now, I think the community here is looking for a renovation project," Sabolinski said. "The SBA will probably review" the district's new statement of interest, "ask for more data, and by then, hopefully, the town will have the committee up and running."

Feeley said that he plans to appoint some residents to the committee in addition to town and school officials. "We need some stakeholders . . . It always goes better if everybody feels like they had input," he said.

Feeley said that residents should contact him or Jeffrey Nutting, the town administrator, if they are interested in serving on the committee, which will total about 11 people. They are especially seeking individuals with knowledge of architecture and finance, and expect to announce the appointments at the Town Council's meeting on Sept. 17.

In reexamining Franklin High, the committee might look toward the model-school program that is being proposed by state Treasurer Timothy Cahill, who serves as chairman of the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

Earlier this year, Cahill criticized plans for a new Newton North High School, which is expected to cost $195.2 million, and a proposed $159 million reconstruction of Wellesley High School. Wellesley has since scaled back its project to $110 million.

In July, Cahill said that he would like to see communities using off-the-shelf building designs that could cut school-project costs by a third.

One model school that Cahill cited was Whitman-Hanson Regional High, which opened three years ago at a cost of $49 million.

Pamela Gould, who is entering her second year as principal of Franklin High School, was the principal at Whitman-Hanson during the building process.

"When I was looking at coming here, I thought I was a good candidate, in having just gone through a building project," Gould said. Franklin officials "knew they wanted to do something and were aware that I'd been through" the process, she said.

Hearing Cahill refer to Whitman-Hanson as a model school, "you get very proud," Gould said, adding that her experience working with architects and a school building committee in her former district would be instructional for the project in Franklin.

Sabolinski called Whitman-Hanson High "an amazing facility that was very cost-effective, so there's a way to have a really functional, attractive facility within a reasonable range of cost."

Franklin School Committee chairman Jeffrey Roy called getting the high school back into shape "probably the most important goal" for the school district.

Roy said he shares Cahill's concerns regarding school project costs. "You've got to keep in mind that the community is paying," he said. "When you spend their dollars, spend them wisely."

Franklin High was placed on "warning" status by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges earlier this year, due in part to concerns about the building's lack of handicapped access.