Project Overview
Welcome to East Bridgewater’s Central Elementary School Building Project page. Here we hope you will find answers and information regarding the project background, process, and next steps.
As part of a Feasibility Study, the District would like to examine options for improving or replacing the Central Elementary School. The Central Elementary School is the only elementary school serving Pre-K-2 enrollment in the Town of East Bridgewater.
As a result of the collaborative analysis with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) of enrollment projections and space capacity needs, the Town of East Bridgewater has agreed to conduct a study of design alternatives for the Central Elementary School with an option of either Grade K through 2 enrollment: 510 students (plus pre-K students) or Grade K through 3 enrollment: 680 students (plus pre-K students).
The feasibility study is expected to take 12-18 months, followed by design & construction after project approval, and the overall process is expected to take 6-7 years.
Please join us at our next School Building Committee Meeting to hear more about the Central Elementary School project. The website will also continue to be a great resource to keep you informed about the project.
In April of 2022 East Bridgewater submitted a statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority regarding the Central Elementary School. The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) is a quasi-independent state authority created to work with local communities to support affordable and efficient schools in Massachusetts. The MSBA is funded by a portion of the state sales tax and offers reimbursement grants to communities to assist with school building projects. Their website contains a great deal of information about them and data on past and present projects. It is available at www.massschoolbuildings.org
In December of 2022 the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) formally invited the town’s statement of interest into their eligibility period. This began East Bridgewater’s process of working with the MSBA to address problems with the existing Central Elementary School.
On October 2, 2023 the town voted to appropriate $1.5 million for a feasibility study on possible solutions. This money is spent under the direction of the Central Elementary School Building Committee (SBC). The town is currently in the process of executing this feasibility study and has been working with a project management firm, a design firm, and various subcontractors for tasks such as environmental testing, traffic studies, etc.
It is the goal of the feasibility study, under the guidance of the SBC, to evaluate all options for correcting problems with the existing school. The SBC’s role is to determine what it believes is the best solution for the town of East Bridgewater. The Committee has members representing various aspects of the town, however it also relies on community feedback. The Committee requests and welcomes all questions, comments, concerns and ideas. Please contact the Committee via email: centralesproject@gmail.com
Why
The existing Central Elementary School was built in 1951. It has seen additions and modifications over the years. The most recent major modification was the addition of modular units in 2006. These units have an expected life of 15 to 20 years. Because of the age of the building overall, it suffers from various deficiencies in its mechanical systems.
Air quality and unreliable temperature control:
Different sections of the building have outdated, unreliable, and inefficient heating, ventilations, and cooling. This results in classroom temperatures exceeding 90°F. Faculty and staff rely on fans and portable air conditioners to compensate as many of the original windows can no longer be opened. These temporary solutions are expensive to operate and burden the building’s electrical system, which was not designed for this use.
Electrical system:
The electrical system, also from 1951, is underpowered and overloaded, limiting the use of modern educational technology. Overloading an electrical system poses safety risks. In April of 2025 the school was forced to close for two days while an electrical problem resulted in the building having now power. As a result the school year calendar for central school was extended by two days and the town incurred an unplanned expense to remedy the problem as quickly and safely as possible.
Plumbing:
The school faces severe plumbing problems including leaking fixtures and clogged drains. These problems are disruptive to classrooms and require frequent attention. Often fixtures are determined to be unrepairable and are simply taken out of service. Significant portions of the building’s plumbing are located in a crawl space. This makes repairs more difficult and thus more expensive.
Life Safety and Backup Systems:
The school’s fire protection systems are outdated with inadequate smoke detectors, which are not centrally connected. The building also has limited sprinklers. There are no backup generators for emergency situations.
Accessibility:
The school was designed and built before considerations for accessibility were in place. The main entrance to the school is not ADA-compliant. The third floor of the school is entirely inaccessible for anyone who cannot use stairs. Existing stairwell guardrails are also not code-compliant. The school does not have an elevator and uses a chair lift system between the first and second floors which required special permission from the state to install because it is not the preferred solution. The building is significantly restricted to students and staff with disabilities.
Other Concerns:
The presence of asbestos tiles is noted in the school. Maintenance solutions put in place often can only be stop-gap measures such as using buckets to catch leaks. Modern technology, such as internet access to classrooms, has been added to the building but could not be centrally located and is challenging to maintain and add to.
While the infrastructure of the building itself faces many issues, including those noted above, there are other problems with the existing school, primarily space. The existing school, despite having a student population lower than its peak a few years ago, does not have enough room. Dedicated faculty and staff have made use of every free space available for storage and education. This results in learning happening in place not designed for it, which can be challenging for students.
There is no area available for faculty and staff to make copies and collate paper. Space has been taken from the already undersized cafeteria to support this. The cafeteria is so small that to fit the student headcount, lunch is split into 6 different time windows varying from time to time.
Modern elementary education requires space and resources that the existing school is unable to provide. The space it does provide is undersized and degraded in quality from age, which takes away from the education provided to students.
How
The town is working within the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s (MSBA) program to evaluate options. This program has requirements and guidelines which, if followed, give the town an opportunity to be reimbursed for some of the cost associated with some of the solutions.
The MSBA process is specific and detailed, their website is a good resource for understanding more about their process. The School Building Committee, though our project manager, has been submitting various required forms to hit milestones defined by MSBA.
The MSBA also has specific guidelines for calculating what an appropriate school contains. These guidelines include such things as square footage requirements for classrooms, cafeterias, gyms and other educational spaces. There are calculations used to determine ratios of hallways and storage spaces to educational spaces. There are calculations used to forecast student population to ensure a solution isn’t quickly outgrown by the community. Many of the guidelines lose eligibility for grant reimbursement if they’re not followed.
Not all expenses are reimbursable. Some expenses are not reimbursable if they fall outside of MSBA guidelines. MSBA’s current reimbursement rate, which is expected to be applicable to this project, is 57.74% for eligible expenses. Again, this is not 57.74% of the total project cost, it is only for MBA-eligible expenses.
The Massachusetts School Building Authority also requires the School Building Committee to completely evaluate specific options. One of those options the SBC evaluated is a building code upgrade to the existing building. Another option the SBC evaluated is an addition and renovation to the existing building. Yet another option is any of a variety of options for building a new school.
What
As mentioned above, the Central Elementary School Building Committee is tasked with devising a solution to solve the existing problems the school is facing. This solution will consider what is most appropriate for East Bridgewater. While deciding exactly what “most appropriate for East Bridgewater” means, the Committee has considered, discussed, and debated a wide variety of topics. Some of the things considered by the committee were:
- education- planning and delivery on educational programming is the top consideration for any new school.
- cost- this is, of course, among the most heavily weighted considerations.
- a general fondness within the town of the look and feel of the existing school. It holds sentimental value for many town residents.
- a desire to maintain the municipal campus feeling of the center-of-town area.
- traffic patterns- school have a significant impact on traffic during certain times of day
- long term cost- operating and maintenance costs.
- an asset for the town- how else might the town utilize the facility in ways that aren’t possible today.
An additional requirement of the MSBA is that the SBC present an education vision and plan for the future and that any solution supports that plan. Methods for educating young students as well as resources and tools have changed considerably since 1951. The educational professionals on the SBC, in combination with many others within the district as well as an education programming consultant defined the educational programming that this project will support. Details of the program can be found in the Educational Plan section of this site.
The SBC evaluated the following options:
- Bringing the existing building up to current building codes, with no increase in available floorspace.
- An renovation of the current building along with an addition to accommodate increased space for educational programming.
- Construction of an entirely new school.
While evaluation was underway on a code-only upgrade as well as the addition/renovation option, the SBC considered four locations within town for new construction:
- 107 Central St.- the existing Central School property
- 175 Central St.- the existing baseball field on the Jr./Sr. High School property
- 600 Spear Ave.- Strong Field
- 0 North Central St.- Leland Farm
After more than 25 public School Building Committee meetings, and two public community forums spanning more than a year and a half, the SBC voted on April 22, 2025 to submit to the MSBA a preferred option: Construction of an entirely new school on the existing Central School property. Much more detail on the options available, pros and cons, as well as the decision making process can be found on the Design Options page.
What’s Next?
The preferred option submitted to the MSBA will go through a few rounds of feedback with the SBC before it is presented to the MSBA Board of Directors on June 18. At this meeting, the MSBA Board approved the project to begin the Schematic Design phase of the project.
The Schematic Design phase is where the details of a building are decided and designed into the plan. Prior to Schematic Design, the SBC has been operating on a broad overview of potential floor plans. Costing associated with various options was completed by two independent firms, however by necessity it involves various assumptions because the exact building has not been designed. Schematic Design is where the exact building, all of the details, are put in place.
The SBC is targeting mid to late August for a comprehensive budget to be available.
It is expected that the town will vote at a Special Town Meeting on November 10, 2025 to add a debt exclusion measure to the ballot for a town vote on November 15, 2025.
With these dates in mind, the voters will have approximately two and a half months to review the proposal before voting.
The Central School Building Committee requests community feedback on concerns and ideas and welcomes all questions. Please contact the Committee via email: centralesproject@gmail.com
An overall project timeline and news can be found on the Timeline and News page.
Vision Statement
In a future Central Elementary School we will…
- use our space to build collaboration, creativity, empathy, and critical thinking with access for all students.
- empower young minds through active, playful exploration.
- foster a love of learning by providing engaging, hands-on experiences that connect the classroom to the real world.
- create a culture that inspires collaboration and inclusion.
- provide collaborative, hands-on learning environment that encompasses social-emotional, culturally-responsive, and inclusive instructional practices to support the academic development and growth for ALL learners.
- students will experience a flexible learning environment (grouping, schedule, themes, projects, space).
Goals and Priorities
