The Somerville School Building Committee recently met to go over issues related to the Winter Hill Community Innovation School project.

By Norah Doyle

The Somerville School Building Committee met on August 18 to further discuss progress regarding the Winter Hill Community Innovation School project and the feedback received from the community surrounding it so far.

Community Input

The city’s Construction Advisory Group (CAG) is continuing to survey community members on what they think should be done with the new school – should Winter Hill combine with Benjamin G. Brown or continue as an individual school?

Community members have until mid-September to participate in the survey. After CAG collects the data from the surveys, it will make a recommendation to Mayor Katjana Ballantyne by late October of 2025. The mayor will decide, based on the recommendation from CAG, whether or not the city will build a larger school that will accommodate both students from the Winter Hill and Brown schools, or solely Winter Hill.

No matter what decision the mayor lands on, the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) requires that the city explore multiple enrollment options as part of the feasibility process.

Architect Proposals

Six different design firms submitted proposals to work on the project: Jonathan Levy Architects, Machado Silvetti, MDS & Sasaki, Perkins Eastman, TSKP Studio, and William Rawn Associates.

The MSBA’s Designer Selection Panel is set to review these applications over the course of two meetings on September 9 and September 23. Three Somerville representatives will attend these panel meetings. Two of the three representatives have been selected: Director of Infrastructure and Asset Manager Rich Raiche and Superintendent Rubén Carmona. The third representative is TBD.

School building committee members stressed the importance of sustainability, community engagement, and student-centered design as important criteria to follow when selecting the design firm for the job.

Take Aways

While no major decisions were made at this meeting, important takeaways include the progression of ongoing community surveys and that six architectural firms are currently under review for selection. The next school building committee meeting will be held virtually, September 29. at 4:30 pm.