Vote Tuesday on Whittier’s New Building

REGIONAL – Voters in 11 North Shore cities and towns will go to the polls Tuesday, Jan. 23, to decide if they are willing to pay for a new $444.6 million building for Whittier Vocational Technical High School.
In recent weeks, as municipal leaders have become aware of the building’s costs and impact on their taxpayers, the opposition to the project has become more public. The growing tension over the project was characterized by Newburyport Mayor Sean Reardon as “a war of words” between Whittier Supt. Maureen Lynch and himself.
Lynch, who has made numerous meetings with local officials and community members, declined Reardon’s invitation last week to an informational meeting at the Nock Middle School auditorium that drew an overflow crowd.
Voters residing in the Whittier school district come from Amesbury, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill, Ipswich, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Salisbury and West Newbury.
The Ipswich School Committee voted six to one last week to support the project, but most community leaders have expressed concern or strong opposition to the project.
Ipswich School Committee chair Kate Eliot said “it’s kind of crazy” that students at a vocational-technical school go to school in a building that was built in 1973. She voted for the new building, but said, “I’m frustrated with how we heard about — or didn’t hear about it — for so long. I’m frustrated with the communication around the whole project.”
In a public letter, Reardon wrote, “While I absolutely agree we need to improve the Whittier facility, I have voiced my opposition to the project based on the current cost and my concerns that the Whittier School District has not thoroughly considered other options that would be more financially feasible for the member communities.”
Reardon and other city and town leaders urged residents of the 11 communities to vote no on Tuesday and force Whittier to come up with a “more reasonable plan.”
Lynch responded, “Let me be clear: a no vote will not allow the project to move forward, and we will not be able to receive any reimbursement from the state.
“In fact, a no vote would forfeit $161.6 million in funding from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, $5.4 million in rebates from Mass Save and $10 million from federal direct payment funded through the Inflation Reduction Act.”
The vote will be district wide with the majority of all voters in the 11 communities deciding the issue.
The Rowley SelectBoard members unanimously opposed the project, citing these and other reasons:
• At $444.6 million, the project will be the third most expensive school construction project in the country and the most costly in the state.
• The existing building, which was declared structurally sound, would be demolished, requiring a new building, athletic fields and an access road. The building’s roof was replaced in 2010 for $3.3 million.
• The new building is not projected to serve more students than the 1,280 students it currently serves.
• Why was the building allowed to “fall into a state of disrepair,” while many deficiencies were identified almost a decade ago? the Rowley SelectBoard asked.
Reardon and other leaders, including Amesbury Mayor Kassadra Gove, the Rowley SelectBoard and members of the Salisbury SelectBoard, have questioned why the Whittier project was not contingent on the passage of a debt exclusion under Proposition 21/2.
City and town leaders have said they may have raise taxes or cut services to pay for the Whittier building.
In Rowley, the SelectBoard said paying for Whittier would be “fiscally ruinous to the town.” If approved, the town would not be able to add overnight fire coverage or pay its part of Triton’s new building. Rowley has 700 students attending Triton, but only 23 at Whittier.
Lynch disputed assertions that the Whittier School Committee and its building committee have not been transparent. “From January 2022 to December 2023, the Whittier Tech School Building Committee held 36 school building committee meetings and four community forums.”
Reardon did not attend any of those meetings, but did attend others, although he did not express any concerns, she wrote.
The Rowley SelectBoard lamented that the agreement governing Whittier “is broken” and cannot be amended because it takes only one community to stop change. The city of Haverhill, which sends the largest number of students and is home to Whittier, would be expected to oppose any change.
The leaders of the Whittier cities and towns have also complained in recent weeks that a political consulting firm “with connections to the mayor of Haverhill” has been retained to promote the building project among voters.
The campaign is being funded by the consulting firm, Consigli, and several trade unions that may be hired to build the new Whittier.
The Rowley SelectBoard letter wrote, “A spokesperson for the Yes for Whittier Campaign has been quoted as saying that it is a ‘normal practice for construction companies and labor unions to fund campaigns promoting school building projects that they’re involved with.’ While that assertion may unfortunately be accurate, it is a sad commentary on our conflict of interest laws.”
The vote will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Early voting was not allowed under state law.