(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff, or publishers)

By the Somerville Neighborhood School Advocacy Group

Somerville is pushing to build a new, significantly larger 925-child K-8 school that would consolidate the Benjamin G. Brown School with the Winter Hill Community Innovation School instead of just focusing on rebuilding the Winter Hill Community School. More than 1,200 residents have emailed inquiries about this centralized model for education, citing concerns about its impact on walkability, traffic, school choice, neighborhood access, the loss of the city’s two smallest elementary schools, and lack of seats for children on the west side of Somerville.

Despite those concerns, the city is moving toward committing to the project before studying many of the impacts that residents have been asking about for months.

On June 22, Mayor Wilson, Dr. Ruben Carmona (Superintendent for Somerville School District), and Darryl Nash (Chief Communication Officer for the Somerville School District) met with concerned parents.

Parents had prepared a list of seven questions ahead of time, briefly summarized: 1) catchments/redistricting, 2) capacity on western side of Somerville, 3) traffic and parking impact, 4) school choice/lottery impact, 5) small school options within the public school system, 6) plans for the Brown building, and 7) holistic cost comparison of the two options.

Nash promised via email: “We expect to cover each and every one of your questions, but there will also be plenty of time for follow-up questions, clarifications, dialogue, and feedback.”

The answers, though, were disappointing at best and non-answers at worst. What will the impact of consolidation be on walkability? Traffic? School choice? All of these questions and more were answered with a nod to using the MSBA (Massachusetts School Building Authority) process. But the city is not on track to answer questions about the impact of centralizing elementary schools until after the MSBA requires a decision from them about school building size at the end of the summer. For instance, the city is convening a committee to look at school choice, but it won’t finish reviewing until next year – well after the city has already made its decision. This makes no sense. Something is very, very wrong about this sequence.

At this June 22 meeting, we learned that Mayor Wilson – one of only two elected officials on the School Building Committee – is working from incorrect information on costs of renovating the Brown School. He repeatedly stated $90 million as the cost for ADA compliance. This is actually the cost for a larger project involving adding a cafeteria plus a gymnasium plus ADA compliance according to a report from 2025 by the IAM and Finance Departments for  School Construction Advisory Group (CAG) on slide 10. Mayor Wilson also repeatedly stated that Rich Raiche, Somerville’s infrastructure planning director, was also working from this information about ADA compliance. Raiche wasn’t present, but if that’s the case, that’s also very concerning. The 2022 initial plan for the Brown, then estimated at $43 million including an addition with gym & cafeteria – see page 16 for sketch and page 26 for price, but just ADA compliance and repairs of the Brown School, according to slide 25 of this plan looks like it’s closer to $2 million a significantly smaller number.

Mayor Wilson repeated the misleading statement that this plan was supported by the CAG. The CAG also voted in majority that the school committee needed to follow the existing process to consider whether closing the Brown was appropriate. (Yes, the CAG also voted unanimously to build at Sycamore and in majority to build a 925-student school – thus producing a self-contradictory recommendation!) The School Committee has not followed the process to consider whether closing the Brown is appropriate. Somerville is committing to a decision long before it follows the process for studying that decision. The CAG’s full report has 3 parts, all 3 simultaneously endorsed by the School Committee, and the Mayor consistently chooses only to discuss the first 2, which is not an accurate description of the CAG’s conclusion.

Dr. Carmona stated to us at the meeting that he believes the school will have four classrooms per grade at the 925 student size, but the plans as presented to the MSBA show five to six classrooms per grade, see page 420 of the Preliminary Design Program Report document. It is surprising and concerning that our superintendent’s plans for the school do not match the plans that the project architect has, which have already been presented to the state as part of the MSBA funding process.

No serious updates have been given on any of these topics, as of this writing, and now the MSBA has requested by email on July 1, 2026, that the city respond directly to certain of these concerns.

If Mayor Wilson doesn’t understand at the very broadest level what is being bought with the city’s money under the two plans – who does? If the MSBA educational plan doesn’t align with Dr. Carmona’s understanding – why not? Where is the School Committee, and why aren’t they asking these questions? Somerville is neglecting its responsibility to our kids’ education, and to responsibly spending our citizens’ tax dollars, and to our Vision Zero plan for safety and our climate goals, in the service of chasing the largest possible building.