By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter
Shrewsbury – Selectman Jim Kane, who also serves as chair of the Beal School Committee, informed the Board of Selectmen at its Oct. 24 meeting of the possible need for the formation of a Beal Early Childhood Building Re-use Committee.
“With the Beal School project moving along with the site selection it struck many of us that it was reasonable to get on the board’s radar the concept of a re-use committee because if it is found that the building is not satisfactory and the site is too small, etc., then we might have an answer to what we might want to do with the parcel,” he explained.
Kane then said that the Beal School Committee would be sending a memo to the board about the composition of who might serve on the re-use committee.
Shrewsbury Public Schools have identified a long term need for more space for its K – 4 student population and as well as addressing structural concerns posed by the current Beal School. Worcester-based Lamoureux Pagano & Associates will oversee the project design and the district is working with Massachusetts School Building Authority for partial funding.
The Beal School Building Committee has been long at work, gathering information about what the future needs are and what the new Beal School Building would look like and where it will be housed. Six sites are now being considered: state-owned Glavin property at 214 Lake St.; property adjacent to the Central Massachusetts Mail Processing and Distribution Center on Main Street; 248 N. Quinsigamond Ave. (town-owned property); 65 Prospect St. (town-owned); 150 Maple Ave. and 200 Maple Ave., (partially town-owned, currently used as recreational fields); and town-owned land at 645 Grafton St. and 384-386 South St.
