What if we start Medford conversations with how can we grow, instead of what can we cut?
Trade-offs seem to keep percolating to the top, if not here, then where? What can the city do to create space and revenue for programs that many of us hold dear instead of framing them as costly burdens? Most comments I get back are about your tax rate going up, but the real price tag is far from decided. Should not the antidote be to encourage our administration to embrace the ways cities across the Commonwealth bring resources in to sustain these vital programs?
Below is a cross-post from Nick Wants a New Medford HS Nick (aka u/homolupulus) uses this page to address a burgeoning interest among Medford constituents with skin in the game, parents or not, who wish to engage this project and these questions with proactive pragmatism and openness.
>Hi, everybody. Nick here again. Today I’m thinking about what I saw at the MHSBC Community Forum #5 on Wednesday, 3 June, and at the meeting last week on 10 June, where option C2.2A was selected (yay!).
>Now that we have a design (C2.2A, pictured), I’m thinking about trade-offs and alternatives. What are the options for what we include in the building? What are the options for how we build certain items like parking, fields, and so on? What are the options for how we handle the construction and the operation of the school during that time?
>In my mind, I have these topics in a few broad categories, and I’ll be doing a couple of posts over the next few weeks to cover items 2-5:
>1. Grades 9-12 High School Programming and CTE
>2. Non-core programming (this post)
>3. Auditorium
>4. Gym/PE and pool
>5. Fields and parking
>Let’s start with non-core programming. Apart from the 9-12 and CTE, MHS currently hosts the following non-core programs, which serve the community of Medford more broadly:
>1. Medford Community Media - https://www.medfordma.org/departments/mcm
>2. Community Partner Rental Spaces
>3. Welcome Center/Central Offices - registration, parent information center, and a connection to other services like English learning, medical, MFN, transportation, and so on.
>4. Kids Corner Daycare - https://www.mps02155.org/staffportal/kidscorner-preschool
>5. Medford Family Network - https://www.mps02155.org/students.../medford-family-network
>Housing of these existing spaces in a new high school build is projected to cost around $54M.
>The cost/alternatives matrices also include potential for new non-core programming spaces:
>1. Teen Health Center - This is meant to be a space for medical and social workers, or mental health workers, to be present and support students, coordinating with the nursing office and the behavioral health and school counseling offices. One example cited is having a network like Cambridge Health Alliance provide certain services at the high school through this space. It has been mentioned at recent meetings that grants would be available to support a program like this, provided there is a dedicated (rather than shared) space.
>2. Community Meeting Space - spaces to have municipal meetings and hearings like CDB, school committee, etc., other than city hall and the library, with good Zoom/online meeting capabilities. This is currently lacking in the city. It could also serve somewhat like Bonsignor Hall for more than just municipal meetings, reservable by any group that needs a large meeting space.
>3. MEEP Preschool would be centralized at the high school and see expansion by 1-2 classrooms. https://www.mps02155.org/students-families/meep
>Adding these new spaces in a new high school is projected to cost around $38M. This also doesn’t include Curtis Tufts's relocation to the HS building.
>All non-core programs are separately costed in the estimates done by the SBC. None of them is eligible for reimbursement from the MSBA, meaning that if included in the project, Medford would pay 100% of the costs of building them. Cost estimates have been prepared for “HS only”, “HS + current non-core", and “HS + all non-core” programming. If you want to see a great interactive cost comparison tool for all these items, check out Mike Mastrobuoni, Medford School Committee's great calculator here: https://mmastrobuoni.github.io/med-high-cost/
>The cost projections above don’t tell the whole story, though. For example, if we were to go with an HS-only build, where would existing MCM, Kids Corner, MFN, and the Welcome Center go? They would lose their spaces; we don’t have a lot of other municipal buildings or real estate, and none of the ones we do have would be able to absorb these programs (Curtis Tufts School and the Hegner Center are both in need of remediation, and aren’t big enough to house very much). So what would we do? Rent/lease? Buy new buildings? Build new structures with their own debt exclusions? Let these programs die? I certainly hope not, considering the number of people they serve and how popular things like MFN are. And there’s no guarantee that if we moved elsewhere, we would even save money in the long run. Suddenly, this choice doesn’t look as simple. Cutting the currently existing programs’ spaces, especially, may have knock-on effects that end up costing the city and the community in more ways than one.
>Another aspect of this, which also affects the newly proposed non-core programming, is “adjacencies”. When resources like MEEP and the teen health center are located in the same building as other services (for example, the Welcome Center and its language screening, medical, and MFN), it enables them to collaborate more and provide more holistic services for those in need. If we place some of these in other locations, or if we choose not to build them to save money in the short term, what are we gaining or losing in the long term?
>This project is one where the trade-offs between short- and long-term impacts are very starkly visible. Modulars to allow shorter building time? Or no modulars and a longer building time? Lower sticker price with the added complication of re-homing community programs? Or a larger upfront investment for long-term community benefit?
>Balance between these concerns is key. What I want to see from city leaders is not just a focus on a low sticker price, because this high school needs to serve students and the community for decades. If we can capture some efficiencies now, the payoff will extend far into the future. And I think we can do this while still being mindful of the tax implications. Grants, philanthropy, space reductions, and efficiencies will all play a role here. But here's what I would ask the Mayor as we start this process: what do you see this high school looking like and doing 25 years from now?
>Let's look beyond the next budget cycle and say what we want this building to be doing for our students and our community in the decades to come.