With the HHU Master Planning Committee slowly finishing its research to best shape the town’s elementary schools for upcoming decades, the MPC has finalized its options for choosing which schools the town will renovate, close, or build.

The MPC has narrowed project proposals down and will formally recommend their construction plan to the School Committee in early March.

A main issue that the MPC has faced is how many sections, or the amount of classes, each school will have at the end of the project. The two main options were either schools having 19 sections, holding approximately 430 students, or at least one of the schools having 24 sections, which would hold nearly 600 students.

The MPC concluded in a 13-1 vote to plan on asking for the approval and funds to undertake a feasibility study to build new 19 section schools at the Hardy, Hunnewell, and Upham sites, as opposed to a 24 section school.

More specifically, the motion proposes to build a 19 section school at the Hardy or Upham sites, followed by a 19 section school at Hunnewell, followed by a 19 section school at the remaining site. Many in the town argued that a 24 section school would be too big for an elementary school, and Wellesley would lose its “neighborhood school,” atmosphere.

Leading up to that date, the committee will discuss the results of the most recent traffic study, which will most likely determine whether Hardy or Upham is rebuilt first. They will also offer a forum for community feedback on Thursday, February 16.

Use this link to see the ideas and proposals the MPC studied for reshaping the district.

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