• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Wellesley Square
  • Deland, Gibson Insurance Athlete of the Week
  • Camp
  • Private schools, sponsored by Riverbend
  • Business index
  • Contribute
  • Eat
  • Schools
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Embracing diversity
  • Kids
  • About us
  • Events
  • Natick Report
  • Seniors
  • Letters to the editor
  • Guidelines for letters to the editor
  • Live government meetings
  • Raiders sports schedules & results
  • Fire & police scanner
  • 2023 Town Election
 
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Write Ahead, Wellesley

Hardy/Upham project planning decisions in Wellesley getting intense

September 9, 2020 by Deborah Brown 3 Comments

At the September 8th Wellesley Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting, BOS member Tom Ulfelder reported on the topic of the School Building Committee (SBC)’s task to determine on which site a new  elementary school should be located — at Upham or at Hardy. Ulfelder serves as the BOS liaison to the SBC.

Each of those elementary schools is under under consideration for a teardown/rebuild scenario. The site on which a new Hardy or Upham school will be built is as yet undetermined. The stakes are high, because one school’s rebuild will mean the other school’s closure as Wellesley moves from seven kindergarten – grade 5 elementary schools to a six-school model.

The School Committee says it will retain ownership of the closed school.

Pre-COVID, the timeline was for a schematic design for each site to be presented in May 2020 by Compass Project Management, the contracting firm tasked with the project. Last spring, the SBC reached a consensus to take a 3-month pause on Hardy/Upham Project work due to scheduling disruptions brought about by COVID.

That 3-month pause has ended.

BOS member Ulfelder said an issue that has come up regarding the Upham site has been “an effort to determine if you can locate an adequate facility on that lot and minimize the amount of ledge that would have to be removed and the tree canopy that would have to come down.”

The Upham site includes over five acres of woods, most of which would have to be cut down to make way for a new school, and over 20 feet of rock ledge, which would have to be blasted.

Some in town have questioned whether Hardy, Wellesley’s most racially diverse school, should be closed, while others cite traffic concerns, saying that a Hardy plan will increase the carload on an already busy Weston Road.

At two upcoming meetings, the SBC will be considering the options and ramifications of both sites as presented by the project’s designer. “A request was made to the designer to come up with enough information to bring this to a conclusion,” Ulfelder said. “The Thursday and Friday meetings are important as we move toward out current track of a Sept 24th decision” on where the new school will be sited.

Important dates:

School Building Committee meeting: Thursday, Sept. 10, 5:30pm
See the agenda
Please email the SBC for a Zoom link to participate in public comment: SBC@wellesleyma.gov
The meeting will be live streamed via Wellesley Public Media

School Building Committee meeting: Friday, Sept, 11, 5pm
See the agenda
Please email the SBC for a Zoom link to participate in public comment: SBC@wellesleyma.gov
The meeting will be live streamed via Wellesley Public Media

Date not yet confirmed: Sept 24, SBC decision on new school site


  • Subscribe to Swellesley’s daily email
  • Please consider contributing to Swellesley to sustain our independent journalism venture
print

Filed Under: Construction, Education, Environment, Hardy Elementary School, Upham Elementary School

Comments

  1. Mike Greene says

    September 9, 2020 at 7:38 pm

    The most important issue, which is failed to be cited in this article, is student safety. If Hardy is rebuilt, over 1400 families will need to cross Route 9 to attend elementary school. Forget about walking and biking to school. If Upham is rebuilt, only about 40 families will need to cross 9. The fewer children needing to cross Route 9, the better. Perhaps not as important, but still important if town wants to get residents financially supporting this initiative: it’s also cheaper to rebuild Upham. Seems like a pretty obvious choice here.

    Reply
    • Build Community Schools says

      September 12, 2020 at 11:17 pm

      How are your numbers accurate? We had 2094 students in elementary schools in 2019/20. Many households have more than one child. At the very least it is approx 1050 households if everyone has one child., my guess is it is much less that than 1050 households. Also building Upham is definitely not cheaper than Hardy. That being said many families have traveled to school on Rt9 for years, are Upham kids more valuable than the rest of our kids? Build a school for families that actually use public schools.

      Reply
  2. Herb Gliick says

    September 10, 2020 at 8:48 am

    From the far reaches of Precinct D, I offer a disinterested observation.
    Population density suggests that more kids are within walking distance of Hardy. As for traffic on Weston Rd., we should note that only the several minutes on each side of school opening and closing are impacted. Or, extending Hickory Rd. into the rear of Hardy land could, with appropriate signage, take the pickup/drop off traffic from Weston Rd.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Linden Square, Wellesley
Riverbend, Natick

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

 

Advertisements

Wellesley Square, Wellesley Merchants
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Beacon Hill Athletic Club, Wellesley
Fay School, Southborough
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Wellesley Theatre Project
Volvo
Cheesy Street Grill
Mature Caregivers
Admit Fit, Wellesley
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Click on Entering Natick sign to read our Natick Report

Entering Natick road sign

Most Read Posts

  • Sign up now for summer camp in Wellesley (and beyond)
  • Letters-to-the-editor day in Wellesley—important election-time updates
  • Wellesley business buzz: Board business liaison phased out; Help ID top business leaders of color; Hospital taps new president
  • Wellesley Cotillion makes a strong comeback
  • Business buzz: Nantucket wine bar to boast Wasik's cheeses; Needham Bank has new Wellesley branch manager; Thanks to new sponsor Beacon Hill Athletic Clubs

Upcoming Events

Jan 26
9:00 am - 10:30 am

Select Board office hours—in-person or online

Jan 31
9:00 am - 11:00 am Recurring

Coffee and Conversation with the Wetlands Administrator and Staff

Jan 31
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Families Eat Together online presentation

Feb 1
11:59 pm

Deadline for Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club grants application

Feb 3
10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Sara Campbell winter warehouse sale

View Calendar

Popular pages

  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads

Recent Comments

  • LADY WELLESLEY on Wellesley police officer injured in crash at intersection of Grove and Benvenue
  • Peggy Heffernan on Wellesley police officer injured in crash at intersection of Grove and Benvenue
  • Beth Dublin on Wellesley police officer injured in crash at intersection of Grove and Benvenue
  • Erika on Where to buy the Wellesleyest stuff in Wellesley
  • Alice Roy on Inside Track has jewel of a Wellesley engagement scoop

Links we like

  • Danny's Place
  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (24)
  • 2023 Town Election (2)
  • Animals (428)
  • Antiques (49)
  • Art (592)
  • Beyond Wellesley (52)
  • Books (376)
  • Business (1,556)
  • Camp (11)
  • Careers/jobs (53)
  • Churches (82)
  • Clubs (236)
  • Construction (300)
  • Dump (130)
  • Education (3,189)
    • Babson College (252)
    • Bates Elementary School (18)
    • Dana Hall School (36)
    • Fiske Elementary School (11)
    • Hardy Elementary School (47)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (46)
    • MassBay (57)
    • Schofield Elementary School (26)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (2)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (11)
    • Upham Elementary School (35)
    • Wellesley College (613)
    • Wellesley High School (996)
    • Wellesley Middle School (204)
  • Embracing diversity (84)
  • Entertainment (814)
  • Environment (772)
  • Fashion (144)
  • Finance (15)
  • Fire (173)
  • Food (358)
  • Fundraising (641)
  • Gardens (164)
  • Government (604)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
    • 2022 Town Election (15)
  • Health (866)
    • COVID-19 (203)
  • Hikes (6)
  • History (399)
  • Holidays (440)
  • Houses (162)
  • Humor (47)
  • Kids (867)
  • Law (8)
  • Legal notices (10)
  • Letters to the Editor (71)
  • Media (72)
  • METCO (4)
  • Military (13)
  • Morses Pond (109)
  • Music (579)
  • Natick Report (30)
  • Neighbors (280)
  • Obituaries & remembrances (86)
  • Outdoors (655)
  • Parenting (63)
  • Police (778)
    • Crime (395)
  • Politics (554)
  • POPS Senior Profile (10)
  • RDF (6)
  • Real estate (344)
  • Religion (138)
  • Restaurants (340)
  • Safety (155)
  • Scouts (2)
  • Seniors (127)
  • Shopping (163)
  • Sponsored (6)
  • Sports (1,012)
    • Athlete of the Week (12)
  • STEM (108)
  • Technology (165)
  • Theatre (397)
  • Town Meeting (23)
  • Transportation (240)
  • Travel (17)
  • Uncategorized (1,244)
  • Volunteering (350)
  • Weather (179)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (280)
  • Wellesley Holiday Gift Guide (2)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (20)

© 2023 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login