By Josh Resnek
Mayor Carlo DeMaria announced his administration is proposing to spend $14 million to construct modular classrooms at five city schools presently overcrowded to relieve the situation.
With that announcement Monday night at the school committee meeting, he made it clear the city was now ready to act and would be sending out a RFD to achieve the desired end — the mitigation of overcrowding in Everett Public Schools.
“The modulars won’t be ready in September,” he told his colleagues on the school committee. But what we wants is to get them in place as soon as possible. We don’t want to waste any more time,” he added.
Superintendent of Schools Priya Tahiliani reported there is $3 million in the school budget that was approved Monday night for the modular project.
The mayor said he would work with the school committee and the city council to move the modular project forward as quickly as possible.
The modular project replaced the Pope John High School initiative which the mayor first favored and then changed his mind in favor of modular classrooms.
It is the mayor’s belief that modular classrooms can bridge the overcrowding gap in the city’s school system – and at far less cost than redoing Pope John.
The mayor said three months earlier he didn’t want to spend $80 million or more to redo the Pope John School while an effort was being made to have the state approve a new bid for a $500 million high school with a heavy technical school edge to it for Everett.
He said the RFP will be going out in April.
Vendors will likely lineup for the possibility of securing a contract from the city of Everett to build out and to equip the modular classrooms.