Council approves funding for high school feasibility study

At Monday night’s meeting, the Revere City Council approved a $2-million appropriation to begin the feasibility study to build a new high school in the city.
Council President Patrick O’Keefe commented that while this is an exciting start to bringing a new high school to Revere, the entire process could take up to seven years before a new school is built.
In 2018 Revere Public Schools cleared a major hurdle during a Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) board meeting. At that meeting the MSBA board voted to invite Revere and 10 other school districts that filed Statements of Interest (SOI) that year to take part in the eligibility process that could ultimately lead to grant money to build a new high school here.
Over the past year Revere residents have been participating in meetings and workshops to share their ideas on how to guide the Visioning Team as it sets sail on a historic course to bring a new high school to the city.
Revere Public Schools will soon form a smaller Visioning Team of about 50 people that will be responsible for actual reporting to MSBA during the design and build process.
Superintendent Dianne Kelly said Revere Public Schools want that smaller group of 50 to be representative of the entire city with members from all wards, parents of elementary-aged kids through high school-aged kids, local business owners, teachers and even some students. The Visioning Team, said Kelly, will really be the team that decides what programs should be included at a new high school.
Things like biotechnology programs or a culinary arts program or a hospitality program are all ideas that are being considered as the plan moves forward. Also, the team will help craft what instruction looks like and how Revere Schools build classrooms that support the kind of instruction that the district wants to see.
Kelly said once Revere Public Schools enter the feasibility period the Visioning Team will really start having discussions with the MSBA on shaping a new high school in the city.
“We are almost a full two years away from entering the design phase so we want to have all the decisions made in those two years,” she said. “We really want to scope out what it is this city wants included in a new high school.”

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