LYNN –The Lynn School Committee voted to try again on the replacement of Pickering Middle School on Thursday night.
The School Committee voted to authorize Superintendent Dr. Catherine C. Latham to submit a statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for replacement of Pickering in the wake of last spring’s failed vote to build two new middle schools.
The School Committee also voted to allow Latham to send a second statement of interest to the MSBA for an accelerated repair project for the Lynn Vocational Technical Institute Annex at 90 Commercial St.
Jared Nicholson, a school committee member, said the statement was for replacement of the existing annex roof, with a new EPDM roof with three inches of insulation. An EPDM roof is defined online as a durable synthetic rubber roofing membrane.
There was no discussion before each vote.
Mayor Thomas M. McGee, who also serves as chairman of the school committee, said this week prior to the meeting that there’s a real need to take a second look at how the city can replace Pickering, which is desperately needed.
He said a larger future discussion would be on what replacement would entail, including location of a new school and whether that would include a two-school option again.
Nicholson said in a previous interview that Pickering is the school with the largest need for replacement in the city. There’s an overcrowding issue and an issue with the condition of the building, including heating problems.
Last March, voters overwhelmingly defeated a nearly $200 million proposal to build two new middle schools to replace Pickering.
If approved, the city would have built a 652-student school near the Pine Grove Cemetery and Breeds Pond Reservoir on Parkland Avenue. A second school would have housed 1,008 students on McManus Field on Commercial Street.
