Finegold Alexander Architects’ sketch envisioning how the entry to the renovated former Gibbs School will look.
UPDATED, Jan. 23: The dingy, flood-prone building that townie’s used to call Junior High East expects to return to life in 20 months, its architect hopes, as a revamped school for sixth-graders only.
Before that happens, Finegold Alexander Architects will deal with a number of concerns expressed by parents. At the Jan. 17 unveiling of some proposed sketches and floor plans, school officials heard the following from among the estimated 50 people in the Ottoson cafeteria:
— Transportation: Phil Goff, a parent, who is cochair of the East Arlington Livable Streets Coalition, asked about bicycle parking. Regan Shields Ives, principal at Finegold Alexander, said the firm will revisit the number of expected cyclists.
— Outside spaces: Apart from hoped-for plans for a garden and an outdoor classroom, Chris Loreti pointed to the basketball court that he said is “grossly underused.”
— Parking: With 66 spaces needed and 71 on the lot, one parent said this abundance represented the possibility of cutting the lot in half and change how it is used depending on the weather.
‘Chopped up’
Ives called the existing building, which houses four tenants, “chopped up,” and the architect seeks “a unified building,” designed to include use as a community resource.
Overall, the aim of the school’s design, Ives said, is to “add a feeling of welcome,” particularly in the main entryway, off Foster Street, hoping to offer “a sense of neighborhood.”
Inside, the renovation will not expand the building — it will remove parts that bar access and open the hallways, entrances, classrooms and library. Color-coded clusters and light aim to add to the allure.
“It’s a major step in getting the floor plan,” Superintendent Kathleen Bodie told those gathered.
Officials said Jan. 17 that initial costs for the renovation would be $16 million. The amount to pay for the Gibbs project publicly stated before the successful override vote last June was $25 million. That part of the vote passed 7,196 to 2,595, or 74 percent.
Further issues
Parents raised other issues:
— Busing: Bodie said the administration is looking at the two-mile limit within which students may be bused. She said the administration has asked the capital planning committee for an added bus.
— Streets: Another parent asked whether the one-way directions of Tufts and Fosters streets could be reversed. That remains unknown, as the change would affect whole neighborhoods.
— Flooding (drainage): The architect plans to address these issues in the front of the building, at Foster Street.
— Band location: “All of this will be explained in coming months,” Bodie said, indicating this was among many questions yet to be determined. “We will be looking at staffing …. “We would like to minimize” having people go between buildings.
— Noise affecting neighbors: Ives said the project must meet LEED requirements, or design principles reflecting “green” best practices.
— Continued growth: Bodie said she expects it, as 40 more students are forecast for next year at Ottoson.
— Auditorium: It has 250 seats and its use by Arlington Children’s Theatre is expected to continue; assemblies would be in the gym)
— Play structures: Current ones will be removed.
— Close entry off Foster: Responses were uncertain. The driveway leading to the parking lot would needs to be monitored for safety. A speaker noted the entry allows access to a delivery.
Work to begin in late June
Overall, the Boston-based architect aims to complete the design by month’s end so the construction work can go out to bid. Renovations is expected to begin in late June, just after school lets out, and will continue throughout next year. Opening is planned for September 2018.
Finishing building plans, which have taken longer than expected, has been the architect’s top priority. School officials plan further conversations about how to best split the middle school between two campuses.
Bodie said coordinating extracurricular activities with the Ottoson needs to be resolved. Band, for example, includes students from all three middle-school grades.
Aiding in the process will be an advisory committee, composed of representatives from each of the town’s seven elementary schools.
Plans for the renovated building includes these further points:
— The kitchen/cafeteria will be built in what is now a locker room. An earlier facility, part of a cafetorium, has been removed for the most part.
— The bus drop-off is proposed for Tufts Street, near a secondary entrance. Parking restrictions are expected on Tufts and Foster during school hours. Student drop-off is to be on the east side of Foster and the west side of Tufts.
— On the first floor will be a cafeteria, world language classrooms, a technology lab, the auditorium, music space and
offices for administration and guidance.
— The second floor includes two of the four clusters, with four classrooms each. The gymnasium, library and
media room and an art space are also on the second floor.
— The third floor contains the last two clusters and another special-education room.
— The current plan is for three lunches in the cafeteria, each for about 150 students.
The Gibbs Schools closed in the 1980s. Since 1989, the space has been used by Arlington Center for the Arts, the Lesley Ellis School, Learn to Grow preschool and the Kelliher Center.
The arts center is raising money so it can move space in the Senior Center. Construction of a new building for Learn to Grow is underway at Broadway and North Union. Lesley Ellis is moving to Winter Street as the Dearborn School moves to Newton.
Only Eliot Community Human Services has not spoken publicly about where the Kelliher Center, a program for the developmentally disabled, will go.
Regan Shields Ives narrated a presentation of these slides (large file)
Slides shown labeled Finegold Alexander of Boston and New Vista Design in Jamaica Plain
Oct. 4, 2016: Community enrollment group sets out priorities for ex-Gibbs renovation
May 27, 2016: School Committee votes to support 6th-grade only at Gibbs
May 2, 2016: School enrollment task force chooses Gibbs option
May 1, 2016: School enrollment task force weighs Ottoson vs. Gibbs options
April 14, 2016: School Committee supports educational recommendation for Gibbs option
Dec. 14, 2015: <Variety of views offered as task force grapples with growth
Oct. 11, 2015: CROWDING CRUNCH: Arts, educators, nonprofit make pitches
Sept. 28, 2015: As public-school enrollment rises, officials, public grapple with future
Space Planning Report for Arlington Public Schools,” HMFH Architects, September 2015
“Arlington Public Schools Population and Enrollment Forecasts,” Dr. Jerome McKibben, McKibben Demographic Research, June 2015
This announcement was published Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017, and updated Monday, Jan. 23, as a news summary.
