A series of school briefings on the Hunnewell Hardy Upham (HHU) elementary schools project is scheduled over the next few weeks. The purpose of the meetings is to focus on the internal swing space plan for the Hunnewell School and how this will involve elementary schools throughout the Wellesley Public Schools district; overall timelines and process; as well as redistricting efforts that will impact the entire district and require the participation of each elementary school.

School briefings schedule:

Sept. 9, 2019:   Hunnewell School Library 6:30 pm
Sept. 10, 2019: Bates School Library 6:30 pm
Sept. 12, 2019: Fiske School Library 6:00 pm
Sept. 16, 2019: Schofield School Library 7:30 pm
Sept. 23, 2019: Hardy School Library 6:30 pm
Sept. 24, 2019: Upham School Library 6:30 pm

The School Committee has identified the following as key factors of the Hunnewell Project:

A new school cannot be built while occupying the current school, therefore off-site swing space is needed. The District has conducted an exhaustive search, but no viable external swing space options exist. The School Committee wants to do an internal swing space distribution of Hunnewell students during construction. That means space would be utilized at other WPS elementary schools to host Hunnewell students for 1.5 – 2 years while the new Hunnewell School is being built. How long that would last depends on whether Hunnewell opens with four years from the start of construction (January or Fall of 2023) or seven years from the start of construction (January or Fall of 2026). See the below project timeline:

It’s the news story that isn’t surprising news. The votes are in, and they say that the one-level, 15-classroom Hunnewell Elementary School that currently holds 260 students should be torn down and replaced with a new two-story, 19-classroom building that will educate 350 – 375 students.

Earlier this month the Board of Selectmen (BOS) voted to affirm the School Building Committee’s (SBC) recommendation that Hunnewell be a from-scratch project. Then on June 24 the School Committee agreed with the BOS and the SBC and voted 4 – 0 for a new structure.

The voting isn’t over yet, however. Next, the question of funding must be put to Town Meeting. In addition, an as-yet unresolved issue is the question of where to educate students during construction.

As for the Hardy and Upham Schools, the emphasis right now is on doing a Feasibility Study on both sites.

Wellesley has seven elementary schools. Hardy, Hunnewell, and Upham are the three schools that have been under consideration for either renovation or teardown/rebuild.