Following over a year of deliberation, the Somerville School Construction Advisory Group delivered its final recommendation to the mayor for a new PK–8 school building, addressing the absence of the Winter Hill Community Innovation School. In June 2023, a piece of concrete collapsed from the ceiling of the Winter Hill School after prolonged maintenance issues, forcing it to close.
The advisory group reached unanimous agreement on building a new school at 115 Sycamore St., and a majority of members supported constructing the school up to the maximum capacity allowed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority to optimize state funding.
Former Mayor Katjana Ballantyne convened the CAG, made up of parents, elected officials and other community members, to develop a recommendation based on a review of data and information provided by the city and Somerville Public Schools, along with the results of community surveys and focus groups. Oversight of the project has now shifted to Mayor Jake Wilson, who will lead the next phase of planning and coordination with the MSBA.
Matthew Daniels, a Winter Hill parent representative on the CAG, criticized the absence of “clear guidance” from the Somerville School Committee and Somerville Public Schools about educational priorities, explaining that their lack of communication made it challenging for the group to evaluate options.
“It seemed like the district was confident that they could work within whatever they were given … which is great, and I think they do an excellent job, but I would have liked to hear more [if] this is what we want,” he said.
Emily Ackman, chair of the School Committee, cited how the committee was not formally asked to weigh in on key decisions during much of the process, attributing this responsibility to former Mayor Ballantyne.
“[Former] Mayor [Ballantyne] was pretty clear that all of these decisions … were hers,” Ackman said. “At the time, [it] was clear that she wasn’t seeking the School Committee’s input.”
Ackman explained that the committee eventually voted on draft CAG recommendations even without being invited to do so.
“We felt like it would be an abdication of responsibility, since we oversee the schools, to not weigh in,” Ackman said.
Despite these frustrations, under Mayor Wilson’s new administration, Daniels is optimistic about increased collaboration with the School Committee in decision-making.
“[Mayor Wilson] makes it clear that as mayor … he is a member of the School Committee, and this is important to him. I think something that was always challenging with Mayor Ballantyne is that she wasn’t often there at the School Committee meetings,” Daniels said.
Ackman said Mayor Wilson has indicated a willingness to involve the School Committee more directly. “The facts haven’t changed that the mayor does make decisions,” she said. “But my hope is that the mayor will ask the School Committee to weigh in. He has stated his intention to do so.”
Throughout the process, the CAG heard grievances from the Winter Hill community, which the final report describes as a community that “feels excluded and ignored.” Daniels said outreach to the community was inconsistent following the school’s closure.
“There was about 18 months where the city did not make any direct communication to the Winter Hill community about this project,” Daniels said. “I believe that did a lot of damage to the city’s ability to organize and receive support from the Winter Hill community.”
Daniels said he pushed for the final report to explicitly acknowledge this issue and the “distrust” surrounding the process.
The CAG report also cited the absence of voices from groups such as the Special Education Parent Advisory Council and the Somerville Educators Union.
“We realized rather late in the process that there was no outreach to [people] who should have been key stakeholders … like those in SEPAC or other groups,” Daniels said. “An overall deficiency of the process is that [the CAG] wasn’t really representative of the communities in a lot of ways.”
Nevertheless, Daniels expressed optimism about the future of the project, pointing to Mayor Wilson’s emphasis on communication and visibility.
“[Mayor Wilson] ran on a campaign of decisiveness and communication and clarity,” he said. “Those are the kinds of things that I think will be beneficial to the Winter Hill community.”
In an official statement on the CAG recommendation, Mayor Wilson said his administration will work to keep the project moving “as expeditiously as possible” through the MSBA process and promised “regular communication” and “predictable checkpoints” for the public.
The city is expected to submit its preferred option to the MSBA by March. Ackman is scheduled to meet with the mayor’s head of engineering on Feb. 3 on behalf of the School Committee to begin mapping out when the committee will need to vote on items related to the new building.
