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Lower and Outer Cape voters support Nauset high school project

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Voters approved an additional, nearly 40 million dollars for the renovation project.

Voters on the Lower and Outer Cape overwhelmingly gave approval to paying the additional costs for the Nauset Regional High School on Tuesday.

About 4,200 agreed to fund the additional $38 million that is needed for the project, with about 1,800 voting against it. The project is a major renovation, along with some new additions.

The original price tag for the project was $131 million in March 2021, but inflation and increases in the construction industry led to the increase.

Nauset school committee chairman Chris Easley tells CAI that voters made the right choice.

"It shows the community's support for education, and it shows the community's understanding that more funding was required because everything is costing more today."

Easley says that construction could begin as early as next month with students moving into temporary trailers after the February break.

Nauset superintendent Brooke Clenchy thanked voters in a statement released to CAI Tuesday evening.

"Your support of this project is enormous to this generation of learners and beyond," Clenchy said. "We are excited to be able to proceed and continue to fulfill this commitment to rebuilding and renovating a beloved institution that offers an incredible education for the students in its care."

About 80 percent of voters that showed up at the polls in Wellfleet voted in support, about 70 percent in Eastham and Orleans, and a little under 60 percent of voters that showed up in Brewster supported the measure. The school district is made up of the four towns.

School officials are optimistic that construction could be completed within three years.

Easley says that the first step is building a temporary parking lot, cafeteria and gym.

Sam Houghton left CAI in February, 2023, to become News Editor at the Martha's Vineyard Times.
He worked at CAI since the summer of 2017. Before that, he worked at the Falmouth Enterprise, where he covered local politics.