LYNNFIELD — The town will decide the fate of a proposed $17 million plan to expand its two elementary schools in a special vote Tuesday at Lynnfield High School.
The polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
The expansion project calls for the addition of 10 classrooms to the Huckleberry Hill and Summer Street schools to accommodate what is projected to be an unprecedented spike in the town’s elementary enrollment by the year 2024-2025.
Corey Mendonca and Emily Sullivan are the parents of four children ranging in age from nearly four to 10 who attend Lynnfield public schools.
“This will definitely impact my kids,” said Sullivan. “Already my kids in elementary school are having to do things in the hallways because there isn’t enough space. My daughter takes a beach towel to school because sometimes she has to sit on that for lunch somewhere because there just isn’t room at times.”
“I think it’s needed and the kids definitely need the space at the school,” said Mendonca. “Having extra space is not only needed because there are more kids in the schools but if the COVID thing stays around any longer, then trying to get them (students) all back into the schools, this will give them the space to do that. Nobody knows when that might be, but I do feel it’s necessary.”
Each school, both of which have already been forced to use common areas for certain activities previously reserved for traditional classrooms, will see the addition of five classrooms as well as other improvements, including additional parking and improved traffic flow at both schools; upgrades to athletic fields; a new playground area at the Summer Street School, and a full-size gymnasium at the Huckleberry Hill School.
The anticipated cost to taxpayers on average per year is projected to be $205 for the next 20 years.
On Nov. 21, more than 600 residents turned out in droves for a Special Town Meeting convened outdoors on the football field at Lynnfield High School to approve the proposed expansion project. The town overwhelmingly approved it in a landslide vote, 386-17, well above the two-thirds supermajority threshold needed for approval, to set up the Dec. 8 debt exclusion vote. The Town Meeting was the third one held this year since June.
After the results of the vote were announced, Kate DePrizio, president of Together We Can, an organization formed by supporters of the expansion project, said she took great pride in the way Lynnfield responded.
“I am so proud of Lynnfield right now. I am so happy that they prioritized families and their children and their children’s education,” she said. “I think it speaks loudly to the amount that the vote passed by, and I am just so happy. But our work still isn’t done.”
In a letter to the Lynnfield Weekly News, Together We Grow’s Bridget Charville, DePrizio, Sarah Kelley and Crystal Lavino, wrote, “We still are working to make sure the voters know why they need to vote for this.We already know that the vast majority of residents agree with his need. We need to get out and vote on Tuesday, Dec. 8. Our community is strongest when we take care of its youngest residents. They are our future.”
Teacher Kelly Mertens, in a letter to the Lynnfield Weekly News urged residents to vote “yes” because there is “overwhelming evidence that small class size yields short and long term benefits for students.”
Ellen Crawford, whose four children attended Lynnfield public schools, said she was proud to be a part of a grassroots effort 20 years ago that led to town-wide improvements in the schools, including a new middle school.
“The success of that project has brought us to where we are today with one of the top-rated school systems in the Commonwealth,” she said. “I was grateful in 2001 when I was a young parent asking voters to support a school building project and happy to see the town residents had the foresight to know that a top-rated school system is key to keeping our town strong and viable.”