Monday, April 8, 2013
Mayor Ted Bettencourt will now be going before the City Council for authorization of a bond order for the full $92.6 million for the project.
The Mass. School Building Authority's board of directors announced last week they are committed to funding a major share of a new middle school for Peabody. The board voted to approve a grant up to $43.68 million or a reimbursement rate of 56.16 percent of eligible costs for construction of a new building to replace the aging J. Henry Higgins Middle School. That leaves the city with about $48.9 million to pay, according to Mayor Ted Bettencourt. That reimbursement rate includes additional points for maintenance and energy efficiency in the new building. Peabody officials submitted schematic designs and a detailed budget package to the MSBA on Feb. 14 and the projection then was about $91 million, and now Bettencourt is asking the City …
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J. Henry Higgins Middle School
1 King St, Peabody, MA
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1733441
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
The journey toward a new middle school in Peabody is still only halfway through the journey of local and state approvals and designs needed before construction can finally begin.
The next step in the chain of approvals for Peabody's new middle school is for the board of directors at the Mass. School Building Authority to approve schematic designs and a detailed budget the local project team submitted on Valentine's Day. Once that happens, a funding proposal would be submitted to the City Council -- that would also be subject to review by the MSBA -- and once that agreement is in place, still more detailed plans will be drawn up in order to put the construction project out to bid. The School Committee voted Feb. 12 to send along the schematics for the new Higgins Middle School to the MSBA, following up on a recent public presentation of those plans. The MSBA board will make a decision at its April 3 meeting. One …
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J. Henry Higgins Middle School
1 King St, Peabody, MA
/articles/city-heads-into-next-phase-of-approvals-for-new-middle-school
1733441
/locations/8836614
Monday, January 28, 2013
The public will be able to get a look at much more detailed designs for a new Higgins Middle School on Jan. 29, along with a general update on the project.
Architects and the project management firm toiling away at the final designs and documents for the new Higgins Middle School are almost done with their task, according to local officials overseeing the project. The public will have an opportunity to see those schematics and get a general update on the project this week before it's all shipped off to the Mass. School Building Authority for approval. This latest update will include floor plans, specific traffic patterns, work schedules, costs, etc. The School Committee will host an informational public meeting Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Kiley School. Committeewoman Beverley Griffin Dunne said the Higgins School Building Committee, which she chairs, will take a last vote to recommend the final …
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Kiley Brothers Memorial School
21 Johnson St, Peabody, MA
/articles/public-will-get-look-at-final-designs-for-new-middle-school-this-week
775221
/locations/8689703
42.529729
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J. Henry Higgins Middle School
1 King St, Peabody, MA
/articles/public-will-get-look-at-final-designs-for-new-middle-school-this-week
1733441
/locations/8689704
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The city's School Building Committee is now working on the final design, budget and construction schedule for a new middle school to submit to state education officials for approval this spring.
Peabody won't be invited into the Mass. School Building Authority's model school program after all for construction of a new Higgins Middle School, according to city officials. Mayor Ted Bettencourt says the city, instead, will pursue a custom-designed school with the same team that has been working on the project for the past two years. The custom option is also projected to cost about $90 million, which is $3 million more than what a model school would be. The MSBA's board of directors voted this past July to authorize Peabody to build a new state-of-the-art middle school, but did not determine at that time which option the city should pursue. The city's School Building Committee met last Thursday to begin working toward the final …
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J. Henry Higgins Middle School
1 King St, Peabody, MA
/articles/no-model-school-for-peabody-but-custom-design-cost-should-be-close
1733441
/locations/8140593
Thursday, July 26, 2012
State officials say new Higgins school a top priority. "It will get built."
The board of directors for the Mass. School Building Authority unanimously voted Wednesday to authorize Peabody to build a new state-of-the-art middle school, officially stamping that option as the best solution for the Higgins School and middle school education in Peabody. The project now heads into a schematic design phase where more of the specific details on design, scope, budget and scheduling will be hashed out between the MSBA and Peabody officials in the coming months. The tentative outlook is for a new school to be ready for students in the fall of 2016. The conceptual plans look at erecting a new three-story school on athletic fields next to the Higgins, which would resolve many of the longstanding interior building issues, as …
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J. Henry Higgins Middle School
1 King St, Peabody, MA
/articles/state-gives-unanimous-yes-for-new-middle-school
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/locations/7483459
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
The MSBA's board of directors meets Wednesday to consider, among other items, whether or not to authorize the city to build a new middle school.
Mayor Ted Bettencourt hopes it's all good news to share Wednesday after the board of the directors at the Mass. School Building Authority takes its vote that morning on whether to authorize a new middle school for Peabody or not. The board is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. in Boston. Bettencourt is then holding a press conference at 2:30 p.m. in his office at Peabody City Hall. Bettencourt, who has pushed for a new school since taking office, said last week that he is confident the decision will come through. He said the city was contacted by the MSBA recently with some questions on educational issues and those points seemed to be satisfied in the city's response. There has only been encouragement over the past several months from MSBA …
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J. Henry Higgins Middle School
1 King St, Peabody, MA
/articles/peabody-eagerly-awaits-msba-decision-on-middle-school
1733441
/locations/7472874
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The task force charged with studying whether to support renovating the Higgins or build a new school has finally made its decision and is fully in support of a new middle school for Peabody.
Officially pledging their commitment to the project and culminating years of talks, members of the Higgins School Building Committee voted Tuesday in full support of building a new middle school in Peabody. The vote would have been unanimous except that two members of the 19-person committee were absent from the meeting. A round of applause followed the decision. "This is a big moment for the city of Peabody," said Mayor Ted Bettencourt, adding he was "very happy" with the decision, which would benefit generations of Peabody children to come. Bettencourt came into office in January fully in support of a new school. "We still have a lot of work to do, but I'm thrilled with where we are now," he said Tuesday. The next steps would be to hold …
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J. Henry Higgins Middle School
1 King St, Peabody, MA
/articles/peabody-now-on-road-to-new-middle-school
1733441
/locations/6724125
Thursday, March 22, 2012
The momentum is building toward a vote, but there's still more legwork for the project design team before a preliminary design is ready to submit to the MSBA.
At this point, it’s mainly about dotting “i”s and crossing “t”s. Mayor Ted Bettencourt and the Higgins School Building Committee appear to uniformly support building a new middle school at this time, the only obstacle is that they have to justify every nut and bolt to satisfy state education officials, or so it seems. So technically, the question of whether the Higgins will see a wholesale renovation or an entire new building is still up for debate. After meeting with the Mass. School Building Authority two weeks ago, the firm managing the school project – Daedalus – explained to committee members that the MSBA needs to see a highly detailed “preferred option” for the school, as well as detailed versions of the other options that were …
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J. Henry Higgins Middle School
1 King St, Peabody, MA
/articles/still-more-work-for-school-building-committee-before-vote-on-higgins
1733441
/locations/6639765
42.545921
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Kiley Brothers Memorial School
21 Johnson St, Peabody, MA
/articles/still-more-work-for-school-building-committee-before-vote-on-higgins
775221
/locations/6639766
Friday, March 2, 2012
School Building Committee will decide whether to renovate or build new school.
A decision may finally be coming next week from the School Building Committee on whether or not Peabody will build a new middle school to replace the Higgins. The committee is currently faced with three foreseeable options: gut the original 47-year-old building and renovate, construct a new customized school or build a new model school. Model schools have been promoted by the Mass. School Building Authority as cost-effective and easy-to-maintain ways to build state-of-the-art schools with successful designs from other building projects. Preliminary estimates by project architects say Peabody would pick up about $33 million on a full renovation with addition, $40 million for a new customized school and about $36 million for a model school. …
42.529729
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J. Henry Higgins Middle School
1 King St, Peabody, MA
/articles/decision-possible-next-week-on-future-of-higgins-school
1733441
/locations/6494713
42.545921
-70.994554
Kiley Brothers Memorial School
21 Johnson St, Peabody, MA
/articles/decision-possible-next-week-on-future-of-higgins-school
775221
/locations/6494714
Thursday, March 31, 2011
State panel voted Wednesday to take this action regarding proposed $42 million renovation project.
A state panel working with the city of Peabody on a $42 million renovation project at Higgins Middle School voted Wednesday afternoon for a more extensive feasibility study than one previously planned. The Massachusetts School Building Authority in Boston wants to move the project out of the state panel's repair category. Now the Peabody Public Schools and the MSBA will work together to study potential solutions to the problems identified in the district’s Statement of Interest, according to the state panel. “We are committed to working with Peabody to find the most economical solution to the problems at the Higgins Middle School so that the children of Peabody can grow and learn in an educationally appropriate and safe facility,” said …
42.529729
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J. Henry Higgins Middle School
1 King St, Peabody, MA
/articles/msba-wants-new-feasibility-study-for-higgins-middle-school-project
1733441
/locations/4649198
Steve
7:18 pm on Friday, April 12, 2013
What a terrible senseless waste of money. No wonder we are in such bad shape. more ›