The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The new elementary school on Claremont Road will pay homage to the area’s farming heritage, the Board of Education was told at its Nov. 12 meeting.
Representatives from SSP Architectural Group of Bridgewater were on hand for the board’s work session to preview the new school’s design, prior to it being submitted to the state for approval.
The 130,000-square-foot school will mimic a farmhouse and barn, said SSP’s Jeanne Perantoni.
“We will make the building fit in and respect the heritage and the land,” she said.
The Claremont Road School was the major project approved last December in the school district’s $85 million referendum. When completed, the district will realign grades to create two middle schools, seven elementary schools and the high school.
The two-story building was designed with an emphasis on environmental education, she said.
The school is designed with two wings connected at one end with a walkway.
First-floor science classes will open out into the courtyard to facilitate environmental studies.
She said as much of the surrounding open space as possible will be preserved.
The classrooms are designed to be self-contained, Perantoni said.
“As you go up the grade levels, you will have different kinds of furnishings,” she said.
The school’s media center will have spaces for different types of activities, such as a story area, she said.
Perantoni said that construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2016, with opening expected for the fall of 2018.
“I just want to say wow,” board president Ed Potosnak said. “I think it’s a beautiful building. It’s deserving of our students and our community.”
A team comprised of district administrators helped in the building’s design.
The board approved the design, which will now be submitted to the state Department of Education for final education adequacy approval.
