(Westfield News- Amy Porter) The new elementary school being built on Franklin Street is continuing to make good progress, as shown in recent drone photos sent to The Westfield News by building committee Co-Chair Tammy Tefft.
Tefft said the contractors have been enclosing the interiors of the buildings to get them heated and are installing electrical and plumbing, and the masons have been inside doing brickwork. Fontaine Bros. of Springfield is the chief contractor on the school building project.
Tefft said December 2024 is still the projected timeline to move the students from Franklin Avenue and Abner Gibbs elementary schools into the new building.
While progress is being made and construction is by all accounts going smoothly, the costs of the project have risen since its initial acceptance by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which is reimbursing the city for a portion of the bill.
At that time, reimbursement for construction costs per square foot was set at $360. Tefft said actual construction costs are currently $593 per square foot.
Some good news on that front was announced on Nov. 1 by state Sen. John Velis (D-Westfield). In response to rising inflation impacting cities’, towns’ and school districts’ school building projects, the Massachusetts Senate sponsored a budget amendment raising the annual cap on grants approved by the MSBA and voted to provide additional supplemental funding to previously approved school building projects, including projects in Westfield and Holyoke.
According to a Nov. 1 announcement from Velis’ office, additional contributions from the MSBA to Holyoke and Westfield school construction projects are estimated to save each community well over $1 million.
Tefft said last week that Westfield has not yet heard anything formal from the MSBA on how much additional funding the city will get, and in what form — whether it will be added to the per-square-foot reimbursement or come in as a cash infusion.
Tefft said at the next meeting of the School Building Committee, at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12, in Room 315 in City Hall, the project manager and architect will give updates on the project, with more detailed photos as well as color boards for the interior of the school.