Plans to renovate or replace Yarmouth’s Marguerite E. Small Elementary School are moving forward — after nine years of trying — now that the state is allowing the district to apply for partial reimbursement for the construction.
First, the town of Yarmouth will be asked to appropriate money for a feasibility study and schematic design.
The study will consider multiple alternatives, including building a new school, major renovations to the old school, and consolidation with the other Yarmouth elementary school, Station Avenue.
If the community opts for a new school, that decision opens up additional questions, said Marc Smith, superintendent of the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District.
“Would it be a new school that would just replace Marguerite E. Small Elementary?” he said. “Would it be a new school that would combine the two schools?”
Choosing to renovate may or may not save money, but those calculations have yet to be done.
“The feasibility study will … lay the cost out,” he said. “I think oftentimes folks think a renovation is less expensive, and it isn't always necessarily the case.”
The Massachusetts School Building Authority reimburses districts at least 31 percent for a school construction project, and often more than 50 percent, based on a formula. Districts with more low-income students, such as New Bedford, usually receive around 80 percent.
The amount depends on several factors, including community wealth, the proposed building’s energy efficiency, and a record of following best practices for building maintenance, among others.
In December, the School Building Authority invited the school district to enter what is called the eligibility period — a time of preparation that launches the project planning and application for state money.
This is the ninth year in a row that Dennis-Yarmouth has applied to enter the eligibility period, Smith said. Until recently, the district was building the new Dennis-Yarmouth Intermediate / Middle School, which opened in 2023.
For the M.E. Small school, the eligibility period begins April 1 and runs through late December. During that time, the district and the town of Yarmouth will have to meet a list of requirements.
The district must submit an educational plan and information about how it has maintained its buildings, and Yarmouth Town Meeting — probably in the fall — will have to appropriate money for the feasibility study and schematic design.
Smith said the problems with the M.E. Small school are many, including a failing roof, outdated electrical systems, and a general layout and design not conducive to modern instruction.
The school was designed to have an open-classroom concept, so the partitions between the rooms are not real walls, Smith said.
