Swampscott Board Weighs Surplus School Buildings, Eyes Community Forum on Reuse

SWAMPSCOTT — October 15, 2014 — Swampscott's Board of Selectmen took stock of four vacant municipal buildings and debated a path forward on school reuse as a failed town meeting vote left the town's elementary school future in limbo. Town Administrator Joseph Younger outlined the four surplus properties — the former police station at 89 Borough Street, the former senior center at 86 Pearl Street, Michon Elementary at 35 Burpee Road, and the 104,000-square-foot Greenwood Avenue School on 2.2 acres — and said the board had reached out to the Massachusetts School Building Authority to explore whether Greenwood could host a replacement Hadley Elementary, though he cautioned that MSBA officials had privately signaled the answer was likely no. Town meeting member Kelly Cunningham argued the defeated consolidated-school proposal was flawed because the 635-student building was already overcrowded on day one and reduced combined recreational space from roughly nine and a half acres to below half an acre. The board voted unanimously to promote Joseph Gombali to permanent fire lieutenant and to appoint Lynn M. Lavoie as part-time benefits coordinator, and accepted Swampscott's designation as a Purple Heart community, the fifth on the North Shore to receive the honor.