Easthampton High School to Open in April
EASTHAMPTON, Mass. — Easthampton High School’s 475 students will return from spring break this April and be greeted with a new $39.2 million academic facility.
There simply is no comparison to the former 52-year-old school building said Michael Buehrle, chairman of the Easthampton High School Building Committee.
“I like to refer to the idea that we went from the 19th century into the 21st century, all at one time,” Buehrle said.
The old Easthampton High School was without air conditioning, insulated windows and an auditorium, and was limited in gym and library space.
With innovative classroom technology, a gym featuring a rock-climbing wall, a 367-seat auditorium and energy-efficient strategies, the students of Easthampton High have been given a platform for success.
The biggest challenge for this project, however, was convincing taxpayers that the $39.2 million transformation was worth the cost, Buehrle said.
“[The biggest challenge was] probably getting the city residents to understand we needed to do this, and just ensuring we answered their questions, let them know we intended to save their tax dollars by keeping control of the budget,” Buehrle said. “And we have done that as we speak: under budget and on time.”
In May 2010, residents approved a debt exclusion referendum for the school by a 3-1 margin.
The project was also made possible in part by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), which funds school construction in the state with a 0.5 percent sales tax. The MSBA will fund approximately $25 million for the school’s construction.
“Depending on how much you design into each project to save energy, recycle, green planting, building materials, land reuse, etc., you get credits of a percentage off the cost of your project,” Buehrle said.
The school earned enough credits to increase the MSBA’s funding from the initial 57 percent to 64 percent. The city of Easthampton will fund the remaining 37 percent of costs, approximately $18 million. But several motions were made to save taxpayer dollars, Buehrle said. Although original estimates set costs at $44 million, the project required only $39 million.
“The most unique aspect would be we built the new high school on the same site, saving our need to purchase another location” Buehrle said. “And since the MSBA does not refund land purchases, [this] saved a great deal of money for our taxpayers.”
The three-story building, designed by Caolo and Bieniek Associates Inc. of Chicoppe, Mass. and Springfield, Mass.-based Fonatine Bros. Inc. serving as the general contractor, meets the Collaborative for High Performance Schools status.
The school features photovoltaic panels on the roof, which generate 82 kilowatts (per hour?), energy-efficient lighting and now has emergency generation capabilities that will allow the school to become the city’s emergency shelter site.
“They’re (students?) going to love this place,” Buehrle said. “It’s high-tech, it’s energy-efficient, it’s clean and they’re going to take care of it because they’ll see what a nice place it is.”
With the new 367-seat auditorium, students in Drama Club will no longer have to walk the several blocks to neighboring White Brook Middle School to rehearse and perform, but enjoy the arts in their own building.
“Probably my favorite parts is the state-of-the-art auditorium and library,” Buehrle said. “The kids now have to leave the current high school to practice their annual play and performance. And now, they just have to put their books away and walk down the hall.”
The library in the new high school will be approximately three times the size of the older facilities, Buehrle said, and the gym’s bleachers will allow an audience of 750 for sporting events and graduations.