Superintendent Justin Bartholomew and the Pentucket Regional School District are pleased update the community on the pending opening of the Pentucket Regional Middle-High School.

The new $146.3 million building will open to students on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

The 211,700-square-foot facility will house about 970 students on opening day. Building capacity is about 1,250 students.

A two-story wing will house students in Grades 7 and 8. A separate three-story wing will house students in Grades 9-12. The two wings will be joined by a large foyer and dining commons.

Key features of the school include:

• A state-of-the-art HVAC system and solar roof panels. It is estimated these measures will save $2 million in energy costs during the next 20 years, by reducing the building’s energy footprint and lessening carbon emissions. The new school is on path to received the coveted LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold designation.
• A 610-seat Performing Arts Center. The Center will support the District’s award-winning arts and music programs, and serve as a gathering place for community programs and activities. The building also will include a drama studio to allow for smaller group work and performances.
• Flexible spaces. Chair and table designs vary, so teachers have limitless design options to allow them to maximize educational options.
• Teacher planning spaces. Each floor has dedicated space for that grade’s teachers, allowing teachers to plan across disciplines.
• Dedicated student entrance. Students will be dropped off at the rear of the building, via a bus-only access road. From there, students will walk through the arts wing to their class area.
• Day lockers. Each floor has a small number of lockers that students may use for the day, and program in their own passcode. This removes lockers from the main hallways, improving access and student flow.
• Breakout areas. Each grade area has an open area that will facilitate small-group work by students, either independently or with teacher support.

The new combined building replaces the current middle school, which opened in 1967, and the high school, which opened in 1958. Construction was approved with overwhelming support in the sending communities of Groveland, Merrimac, and West Newbury.

“We now have a building that will provide the best possible education for future generations of Pentucket students,” Superintendent Bartholomew said. “This would not have been possible without the years of work by the School Building Committee, or the incredible support of our school community. I hope they are proud of the final result.”

The new school was designed by Dore and Whittier. Vertex served as owner’s project manager, and W.T. Rich served as construction manager.

The old High School has been demolished, while the old Middle School is in the process of removal. Turf field construction is ongoing.

The District plans a formal dedication ceremony on Wednesday, Sept. 14, from 4-6 p.m. More information on the ceremony will be shared when available.

Superintendent Justin Bartholomew and the Pentucket Regional School District are pleased to share the following update on construction of the new middle/high school building.

Construction is currently about 70% complete, meeting the schedule to open the building for the start of the 2022-2023 school year.

The new school, a 211,700-square-foot facility, will house about 970 students when it opens.

The new combined building replaces the current middle school, which opened in 1967, and the high school, which opened in 1958. The two current building have outlived their useful existence and restrict the District’s ability to educate students to their full potential.

A two-story wing will house students in Grades 7 and 8, while a separate three-story wing will house students in Grades 9 through 12. The two wings will be joined by a large foyer and dining commons.

A centerpiece of the new school will be the 600-seat Performing Arts Center, which will support the District’s signature arts and music programs and serve as a gathering place for community programs and activities.

“This will be such a beautiful facility,” Superintendent Bartholomew said. “There is nothing like this in the area.”

The building also will include a drama studio to allow for smaller group work and performances.

Individual classrooms are designed to be flexible and maximize interdisciplinary learning opportunities. For example, some class spaces are split by dividers, which can be removed to allow classes to work together.

“In our buildings now you may have 25 of the same desks,” said High School Principal Jonathan Seymour. “Every classroom now will have a variety of furniture.”

Pentucket Regional High School’s curriculum places a large emphasis on movement science and athletics, so several class areas are devoted to that discipline. For example, a kinesiology lab will be used for education during the day, and double as a weight room and training area for student-athletes later in the day.

The new school is tracking toward LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold designation. A state-of-the-art HVAC system and solar roof panels will reduce the building’s energy footprint and lower carbon emissions. It is estimated these measures will save $2 million in energy costs during the next 20 years.

Hallways contain expanded learning areas, allowing students to work on group projects or for teachers to lead small group or tutoring sessions.

Both existing buildings will be demolished. Those areas will be used to create athletic fields and parking.

The new school was designed by Dore and Whittier, with Vertex serving as owner’s project manager, and W.T. Rich serving as construction manager.

“It is exciting to see this vision take shape. The entire design and construction team took a personal interest in this project’s success, and it shows,” Superintendent Bartholomew said. “I also want to thank the School Building Committee for its dedication and hard work, and our school community and our three sending towns for their incredible support. I can’t wait for everyone to see this school when it opens.”

It is with great excitement the district announces that the Middle/High School Building Project was approved by voters in all three Pentucket towns yesterday.

This is a great step forward for the Pentucket community. We will build a modern, state-of-the-art facility that will support student learning and growth for decades to come, not to mention a facility that can also be utilized by community groups.

Thank you to all who voted, attended Town Meeting, came to community discussions, asked questions, provided feedback and assisted with this project over the last several years. An overwhelming number of residents in all three towns came out to vote, and the vast majority voted in favor of this project. I believe this is a testament to the open communication and dialogue about this project that the district adopted at the start of this long process, in 2014.

This project has brought our community closer together, and it has been wonderful to see the dedicated, diligent work that has gone into this project as well as the community participation along the way.

Our goal is to begin construction in spring 2020, and to open the new building in fall 2022.

The next few years promise to be an exciting and busy time as Pentucket embarks on this latest chapter of our district’s future. Thank you all once again for your time, effort, and support.

As always,

“All hail the green and white.”

~ Dr. B.

Residents in all three towns voted in favor of the project at three separate town meetings on Monday, April 29 and through a ballot vote in each town’s general election on Monday, May 6.

“Thank you to the Pentucket towns for all of their involvement in the voting process,” Superintendent Bartholomew said. “This was a big victory for the future of the Pentucket community, and a historic day for the district. This project really seems to have brought the community together, and these next few years will be an exciting, busy time for us all.”

Superintendent Bartholomew added that the vote in many ways reflects the communities’ approval not just of the project but also the diligent work that went into planning, executing and communicating this project over the past five years.

“Community engagement and communication were two constants since the district began this long process around 2014,” he said. “The voting results and excellent voter turnout in all three towns show that residents not only supported this project, but that our community members were educated voters both at town meeting and at the polls.”

In the coming years, the district will build a three story, modern facility that will house middle school students in one wing of the building and high school students in another. The building will replace the current Pentucket Regional middle and high school buildings, which were respectively built in 1967 and 1956 and are approaching the end of their useful life spans.

In the next six to eight months, the project will be put out to bid to construction companies. The district aims to begin construction in Spring 2020, with the goal of opening the new building for the fall of 2022.

For more information, visit pentucketproject.com. 

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Dear Pentucket Family,

Last evening, the Pentucket towns of Groveland, West Newbury, and Merrimac voted to appropriate funds for the Middle/High School Building Project contingent upon a secondary approval (ballot vote) at the Town Elections next Monday, May 6.  At this point, all three towns must vote in favor of the project on the Monday, May 6 ballot in order for the project to be approved.  If one or more more towns do not pass the project on the ballot, the project has failed.

In all three towns, the vote on the Building Project will be Question #1.  A “Yes” vote is in favor of the project, while a “No” vote is against the project.

You can use the links below to see if your town has posted the sample ballot on their website.

Groveland – https://www.grovelandma.com/

Merrimac – http://www.merrimac01860.info/

West Newbury – https://www.wnewbury.org/

Thank you for your continued support and, as always, “All hail the green and white.”

~ Dr. B.

Groveland, Merrimac, and West Newbury residents will be asked to vote to approve the proposed Pentucket Regional Middle-High School building project at Town Meetings on Monday, April 29 and through a ballot vote on May 6. If approved, construction would be slated to start as early as spring 2020, with students occupying the new building in the fall of 2022.

The handout includes the answers to frequently asked questions about the project, the cost breakdown of the project, and the impacts of “yes” and “no” votes at Town Meeting.

Here is an updated, combined video showing the inside, outside, cafeteria, auditorium, classrooms and library of the proposed new Pentucket Regional Middle-High School building.

Groveland, Merrimac, and West Newbury residents would be asked to vote to approve the project at Town Meetings on April 29 and through a ballot vote on May 6. If approved, construction would be slated to start as early as spring 2020, with students occupying the new building in the fall of 2022.

Dr. B offers some useful tips on how town meeting works!

New renderings provided to the Pentucket Regional School District show what modern classrooms and labs would look like in the combined middle and high school building project, created by project management and architecture firm Dore & Whittier.

The learning process has changed drastically since the original schools opened in the 1950s and 60s, and the current designs of the middle and high school classrooms limit the ability of the district to make the best possible use of technology and modern teaching methods.

Groveland, Merrimac, and West Newbury residents would be asked to vote to approve the project at Town Meetings on April 29 and through a ballot vote on May 6. If approved, construction would be slated to start as early as spring 2020, with students occupying the new building in the fall of 2022.

A video rendering of the construction phases and traffic flow plans for the proposed combined middle and high school building project, created by project management and architecture firm Dore & Whittier. In phase one, temporary parking would be built on the field that abuts Route 113 in front of the current high school building. The property behind the current high school, including the football field and baseball diamond, would be sectioned off by a construction fence as the new building is constructed on that land. As construction on the new building is completed, the parent pickup and drop off routes, and bus routes, to and from the middle and high schools would remain the same. Once the new building is finished, the current middle and high school buildings would be sectioned off by construction fences and demolished.

Groveland, Merrimac, and West Newbury residents would be asked to vote to approve the project at Town Meetings on April 29 and through a ballot vote on May 6.