HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Sites Committee report, 1946 173
REPORT OF THE COMMITT"='-E ON SCHOOL SITES
TOWN MEETING, OCTOBER 7, 1946
The Board of Selectmen have requested of this Committee that Articles
19 and 20 be indefinitely postponed. Before action is taken we wish to
report to the Tom Meeting why the Articles were inserted.
The Committee is firmly convinced that the property described in
Article 20, a portion of -what is commonly known as the Aldrich prop-
erty, is the outstanding site for a new elementary school to replace
the Hancock School, and to give more classrooms to take care of the
increase in elementary school enrollment.
The need for a new school on a new site is obvious from the
Nichols Report submitted prior to the last Town Meeting. The Hancock
School is overcrowded and in deplorable condition, and its site is
quite inadequate.
Mr. Nichols recommends, and others who have studied the problem
agree, that the Hancock School District be replaced by two new ones,
with Mass. Ave ., Bedford Street and the Railroad as the dividing line.,
That would avoid the danger of children crossing the main street, and
would ultimately divide that portion of the Town not served by other
schools into two well-shaped districts, each within fair walking
distance of a central point,
The northeasterly district centers about Grant St., a strong
half-mile from the center, and this Committee expects to recommend a
site in this area soon.
The southeasterly district, the one for which a new school is
most urgently needed, centers about Hastings Road, or almost exactly
on the site proposed. The entire district has been studied carefully
by this Committee, and no other site qualifies from the standpoint of
central location, accessibility, topography, and size. Within half a
mile of this central point there is virtually nothing but developed
houselots, swamp, steep hillside, and improved park area, except for
this site itself.
The site recommended has the} -advantages of being public property,
and of being immediately adjacent excellent recreation facilities.
Any s te _n_ot contiguous to Parker Field would require expensive play-
ground improvements. The experience at Adams School has demonstrated
how successfully school and park recreation facilities can be operated
conjunctively--with much advantage to both.
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A further advantage of locating the new school on the Aldrich ` '
property would be to increase use of a large park area which has been
in Town ownership for nearly eight years , and yet has had only slight
improvement and occasional use as a picnic ground and as individually-
operated victory gardens. This Committee cannot concede that the Town
would lose _valuable or essential recreation land inasmuch as: 1) plans
prepared by nationally known recreation experts for development of the
entire tract call for no use of the site selected except for incidental
landscape treatment; 2) the Town owns nearly seventy acres of land in
the Parker Field development, or enough acreage for three playgrounds
plus three athletic fields of the sizes recommended by the National
Recreation Association.
The site was donated to the Town in 1938 by J. Willard Hayden,
with the provision that "with the written consent of the donor. , .
portions of said playground may be devoted to structures to be used
by the youth of Lexington for educational purposes apart from strictly
playground usage if such structures and the necessary area about them
will not, in the opinion, . ,of the donor. . . seriously encroach upon
the area reasonably required for the realization of the purposes of
this grant that it be devoted primarily to recreational playground
activities" . There is no record in the Town Meeting's vote of accept-
ance or elsewhere that we can discover, of why that clause was inserted
intthe deed. But in the memory of some Town Officials and Town Meeting
members, there was discussion at that tine of the possibility of locat-
ing a school there, and the presumption is certainly very strong that
the clause was inserted with that possibility in mind.
Whether or not that be the case, Mr. Hayden indicated to rep-
resentatives of this Committee some time ago that he does not intend
to permit any school building to be erected on this site. Efforts to
show him that a school would increase recreational use of the remainder
of the tract were countered by his explanation that locating a school
there would not be in accord with his plans.
Since the only way of obtaining the site seemed to be through the
taking of legal steps to remove the restriction, we were prepared to
recommend to the Town that such steps be taken. However, we have been
assured by the Board of Selectmen and the Town Counsel that such steps
would not be to the best interests of the Town, even though we are
lure it is the best site for school purposes. We can not agree with
their point of view, but at the specific request of the Board of Sel-
ectmen and Town Counsel, we reluctantly move that action under Articles
19 and 20 be indefinitely postponed.
Respectfully submitted,
Committee on School Sites
Moved by Roland B. Greeley Indefinite Postponement.
Carried Unanimously 9:23 P. M.
All articles being dispensed with, the meeting was dissolved 9:24 P.M.
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