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As planners consider the future of Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School, how big a building will be needed to accommodate tomorrow’s student body and anticipate the technologies of the future is top of mind.
Whittier Tech staff and JCJ Architectural Consultants were on hand last Thursday afternoon to hear public input on plans to renovate or replace the nearly 50-year-old school. Two renovations and two new construction options were discussed. Schools Superintendent Maureen Lynch explained why doing nothing was not an option.
“We’re fortunate to be able to do a lot of our own construction here at Whittier because we have our trades in the school there, but under no circumstances were we told not to do any more construction until we put a sprinkler system in the building,” she said.
The building on Amesbury Line Road in Haverhill covers 356,000 square feet and houses 1,280 students. But school administrators are weighing four plans. Two will renovate the existing building — one will bring the school up to current code and hold the same number of students — and the other will renovate and add another floor to accommodate an additional 120 students.
Two more options are called for a new building. The first would increase the school’s size by 40,000 square feet to a total of 396,285 square feet, but keep the student population at its current level. Another new construction option is 417,000 square feet with another floor and storage, adding 120 students for a total of 1,400.
Haverhill School Committee member Gail M. Sullivan asked about finances. While cost estimates were not disclosed, the Massachusetts School Construction Authority was told that a 59.16% rate of return has been locked in.
Lynch, however, said Witter Tech began planning for the project seven years ago and since then has been setting aside funds to avoid further assessment for participating communities.
Lynch said that in addition to student numbers, major changes are needed to ensure modern technical and vocational education.
When the school was built in 1973, innovations such as computers and high-tech science jobs were not even considered, but rather focused on the career needs of another era.
Additionally, although Whittier Tech has since worked diligently to renovate and upgrade the building, its physical infrastructure is struggling to meet the needs of its students.
JCJ Senior Project Manager Alicia Carritano listed technical issues such as outdated mechanical and electrical systems, but also pointed to less visible deficiencies that hinder the best possible learning for students.
“So in addition to these technical issues, there are many intangibles that affect the educational delivery of the project. The first building is called ‘open plan’ and many areas do not have walls. This created some challenges, such as the acoustic challenges in the library, which led to a lack of acoustic privacy.” she said.
School officials said they plan to submit a schematic design to the Massachusetts School Building Authority in the next two weeks. If approval is granted, construction could begin in the spring of 2025.
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