Somerville’s next school building project will address the needs of the Winter Hill Community Innovation School and potentially the Brown School. Partnering with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) offers the City and school district the potential to receive state funding to offset a significant portion (approximately 50%) of the cost of the project.
This Month’s Update (October 2025)
Thank you to everyone who took the New PK-8 School building survey or participated in a focus group.
While the survey fielding and community engagement process was underway, the City’s project team, under the oversight of the School Building Committee, was advancing efforts to hire a design/architecture firm for the project.
Quick Updates:
- Community Survey and Focus Groups. Survey fielding concluded on September 22. Focus Group conversations were held in October to gather additional perspective on the topics covered in the survey.
- Presentation of Results. The results of the community engagement process were presented at the meeting of the Construction Advisory Group on October 27.
- Hiring a Designer/MSBA Process. The City reviewed shortlisted design/architecture firms with the MBSA Designer Selection Panel (DSP) on September 25. Perkins Eastman was identified as the preferred shortlisted firm.
More details on the CAG and MSBA process are below.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Click below to view upcoming meetings and events and how to participate.
View upcoming meetings
All meetings will be open to the public and will include a designated comment period toward the end of the meeting.
- The Construction Advisory Group will meet the 2nd Monday of every month. The next meeting of the Construction Advisory Group will be November 10 from 6 – 8:30 p.m. To view meeting details, click here.
- The School Building Committee meets roughly monthly. The next meeting of the School Building Committee is Monday, November 3 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Find the meeting details here.
You can find instructions on listening to language interpretation of the meeting here. New to attending Zoom webinars? You can find instructions for participating here.
More on the CAG and Community Engagement
The New PK-8 school building survey closed on Monday, 9/22, with over 2,400 responses recorded. Data analysis is currently underway, and the City’s DREAM Collaborative will report on the results at the upcoming 10/27 meeting of the CAG.
Meanwhile focus group conversations are underway to draw out more nuanced insights, help deepen understanding of why people prefer the options they do, and learn what matters most to the community. DREAM led the first focus group with SPS staff members. Reporting on key insights from the focus groups will be presented alongside the survey results.
More on the MSBA Process and Designer Selection Panel (DSP)
On Tuesday, September 9 the City’s project team conducted a review of applications with the DSP which resulted in Miller Dyer Spears, Inc., Perkins Eastman, and William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc. Being identified as top three shortlisted firms.
On Thursday, September 25 at a second meeting of the MSBA’s DSP, interviews were conducted with the top shortlisted firms. As a result of this meeting, Perkins Eastman was identified as the preferred firm for the project, and the contract negotiations process is now underway.
The results of the MSBA’s DSP Meetings are available here.
Key Milestones
- Community engagement (survey and focus groups) – Late summer/fall 2025
- Funding the project (debt exclusion ballot question) – Expected November 2027
- Completion of construction – Anticipated late 2031
Project History
In 2023, the City requested approval to apply for funding for two school renovation or rebuilding projects: the Winter Hill Community Innovation School and the Benjamin Brown School.
The MSBA gave us three answers:
- Winter Hill application was approved to advance: The City was invited by the MSBA to proceed with applying for funding for one project: to renovate or rebuild the Winter Hill Community Innovation School, which was unexpectedly closed in June 2023.
- Brown School application was declined: The MSBA declined to allow us to apply for a project to renovate or rebuild the Brown School.
- But, MSBA offered Somerville the option to combine schools: However, the MSBA gave Somerville the option to build one school that could serve the needs of the two schools: both the Winter Hill School and the Brown School.
Due to the high projected costs of major school building projects, the City relies on funding and support from outside sources, primarily the MSBA, to fund these projects. The MSBA provides a portion of eligible funds, and the City is responsible for funding the remainder of the project. To receive funding from the MSBA, the City must follow a series of required steps outlined on this page.
We’ve worked with the MSBA before most recently to build the new Somerville High School. To find details about our previous project, Somerville High School, please visit www.shsproject.org.
Want to learn how the MSBA works? Visit our FAQs page or read this explanation about the process.