A former Andover School Committee member urged the town permanent building committee to “fail faster” as it tries to figure out how to extend the life of Andover High School by up to 15 years.
Shannon Scully, who also served on the AHS building committee that was disbanded after special town meeting rejected building a new school in November 2023, said officials had already considered making upgrades to the new school in 2017, when Andover was preparing an application for funding for a new school from the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
“The reality was there is no project that is worth investing in at such a low level because it’s not going to get you much. I encourage this project to continue and thank you for the work that you’re doing to do this, but please fail faster,” Scully said at the first of three public forums Thursday to discuss the status of the project. “You need to reach the conclusion what seven prior years of work led to, which is, I’m sorry, the reality is it’s not going to be worth it to invest this much money in the building.”
Officials estimate the renovation would cost between $32 million and $50 million, with more precise estimates available upon completion of the schematic design. An upgrade project would need to cost less than 30 percent of the building’s assessed value or the Town would need to upgrade the building to meet current standards.
The building’s current assessment is $47.1 million. Ellen Keller, who chairs the building committee, said the group was working to ensure it did not pass the 30 percent cap.
“The goal is to try to make the best use of the money we have, solve the worst problems that we have, extend the life [to] get us to where we need to be,” Keller said. “It was to simply figure out what can we do for the money that we have. What is the best use of those funds?”
Potential upgrades the building committee is considering include:
- Detached modular classrooms for $11.5 million
- Retrofitting vacant spaces for $900,000
- Teacher collaboration spaces for $750,000
- Cafeteria and servery expansion for $1 million
- Furniture for $2.5 million
- Mechanical systems for $7.5 million
- Cooling and portable AC for $100,000
- Security improvements for $2 million
- Parking improvements for $2 million
- Pavement and concrete repairs for $3.5 million
Additional forums are scheduled for Feb. 13 in the select board room at Town Offices, 36 Bartlet Street, and a virtual meeting on Zoom on Feb. 20. All three forums begin at 7 p.m., and will be broadcast live on AndoverTV and available to stream online at andovertv.org.
Annual Town Meeting could deliberate the next phase of a proposal to renovate Andover High School when it convenes on April 29.
Project manager TBA Architects is expected to submit a preliminary report in February or March, which is “prime time for Town Meeting prep and review,” Town Manager Andrew Flanagan told the Permanent Town Building Advisory Committee in December. The committee would be asking Andover’s legislative body for money to complete a detailed schematic design for the renovation.
Special town meeting approved $500,000 for the initial phase of developing the so-called interim approach after it shot down a plan to build a new high school in November 2023. The project is aimed at upgrading AHS to extend its useful life until Andover is in a better position to apply for state funding to offset the cost of building a new high school.