Crowd of parents wants to know, but it’s too early to provide some answers
Finegold Alexander Architects’ sketch last January envisioning the entry to the renovated Gibbs School.
UPDATED, June 15: The number of questions outpaced answers for an estimated 90 people jammed into the School Committee Room on Tuesday, June 13, seeking to learn what they could about the Gibbs and its educational mission.
One answer is nearly certain, and Superintendent Kathy Bodie had it: “This building is being renovated, but it is not changed.”
That is, its structural envelope is to largely remain as it was when it became the Gibbs School in the 1920s. Changes will be taking place inside — in the physical plant and in classroom attitude — as well as in the neighborhood.
The majority-female audience were bright and eager to learn, based on the questions asked. The teachers that night were Kristin DeFrancisco, principal at Hardy who will take over at a renovated Gibbs in September 2018, and Bodie.
Another near certainty: Renovations are to start June 30. After that, much remains to be assessed and communicated.
The return of the Gibbs to classrooms, after nearly three decades of other uses, is the answer to an overexpanding Ottoson Middle School. When the town’s public schools open in 2018, all sixth graders will be attending the East Arlington school between Foster and Tufts.
Here is a summary of some of the questions raised and their answers at the event presented by Vision 2020’s Education Task Group, the public schools and the Gibbs Parent Advisory Committee.
How will the renovated school look?
After Scott Lever of the Vision 2020 group provided background about how the year-old process involving the public has progressed — including a film last November and a visioning session the next month, he introduced Rebecca Arnold of the parent committee.
She enthusiastically explained a series of drawings, comparing existing conditions and those devised by Finegold Alexander Architects. The overall impression was as if the bright light of modernity had flooded halls and rooms dimmed for decades.
Slides reflected much discussion of color, in displays attractive to sixth graders, but in others made less muted, in deference to those who would be there year after year — the teachers.
In the main lobby, the notion of a graffiti wall had been scrapped in favor of a display area for more-formal student art.
The floor color, fashioned to distinguish clusters, looked like a muted version of the painter Piet Mondrian had been let loose, to positive effect.
Asked for more specifics about bigger-picture design, DeFrancisco said the architect is expected provide final plans as the school years ends (the last day is June 23).
Asked whether the renovation would follow LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (a rating system devised by the U.S. Green Building Council to evaluate environmental performance and encourage sustainable design), Bodie said the hope is LEED gold by completion, projected by August 2018.
She said the architect and contractor are working together on the project, a procedure to be followed as the rebuilding of Arlington High moves along.
What size will the school be?
As for size, the renovation is designed for 500 students, Bodie said, though more are possible. She said that projections for the next decade show that enrollment could top 500 by 10 to 20 students.
What about pickup, drop-off and other transportation issues?
As question veered toward transportation, the evening moved into murky areas.
One reason, Bodie said, is that Tufts and Foster are one-way streets that run in directions opposite from those needed for optimal pickup and drop-off. Changing that means redoing numerous streets in East Arlington.
Details about this well as busing remain to be worked out. Bodie said the administration is looking into the possibility of a fee-based bus.
As to cycling, bike routes and walking, Bodie said she has asked the selectmen’s Transportation Advisory Committee to address these issues.
“The area will clog up quickly,” she said, referring to morning and afternoon neighborhood traffic.
What is the principal aiming for?
For a good chunk of the 90 minutes, DeFrancisco outlined her goals and tried to answer questions. Bringing more than two decades of experience to the Gibbs experiment at a number of Arlington schools, she commented with characteristic humor that she is trying to be in them all.
She discussed her mission and the school’s — to provide an an age-appropriate transition for sixth graders to Ottoson — adding that she had “homework” for the audience: What do you want the communication about Gibbs to look like?
She reviewed those who have come together in committee to shape the mission. All are listed in the full presentation >>
Focusing on one — “Culture and Climate,” led by Denny Conklin, the social-studies chair — she called it a “little bit more touchy-feely,” because it aims to deal with the feeling inside a classroom. She added that she is “very pleased with this work.”
The principal reserved her unrestrained enthusiasm for the responsive classroom, an evidence-based approach to teaching that focuses on the strong link between academic success and social-emotional learning.
On such emotional intelligence, she said, “I could go all night.” Calling it one of best trainings she has had in 21 years, she said all teachers going to the Gibbs have had it.
Among other advantages, she said, the approach gives teachers time to test the mettle of smaller groups of students.
Diversity, ACE, SPED?
Asked what strategies are in place to address diversity, DeFrancisco the matter a “district conversation” and did not think new hires would be needed.
Bodie clarified that, saying a nurse would be hired and that the current 3 1/2 clusters were expected to expand to four. As to diversity, Bodie noted that it is a district goal.
To questions about including ACE and accelerated math, DeFrancisco said she did not yet know.
Asked why if special-education students were regarded as “integrated,” were then separated, Bodie explained that a student’s individual education plan may require pullout from class for support. Guidelines about this, she said, come from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
As to how such extracurricular activities as orchestra and theater would play out, Bodie said it remained to be seen, but that a children’s theater could be at Gibbs.
After-school?
To a question about an after-school program, Bodie said the current director, Todd Morse, would include Gibbs, but she did not yet know about the program for seventh and eighth grades in 2018.
Vision 2020’s Education Task Group plans to have future public sessions as the renovation proceeds.
The names and contact information for the members of the Gibbs Parent Advisory Committee have been requested, so that the public can offer further feedback to them.
Full June 13 program >>
Jan. 23, 2017: Parents react to first look at planned changes for former Gibbs
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
Dec. 18, 2016: Visions and revisions: Dialogue about education seeks to map fresh course
This announcement was published Tuesday, June 6, 2017, and updated June 14 as a full news summary. It was updated again, to clarify copy.
