The Massachusetts Historical Commission is withholding, at least temporarily, its approval for Wellesley's plan to demolish the building in which poet Sylvia Plath studied literature as a young woman to make way for the town's new high school. The commission surprised the town's School Building Committee with a request for more information on plans for the $135.6 million high school, including copies of a dozen renovation options the town considered before settling on a plan to demolish the current 1938 Art Deco-style building.
From December 2008: Wellesley, Mass., voters have approved an $86.6 million debt exclusion to pay for a new $130 million high school, the largest capital project in the town's history. Supporters of a new high school had argued that the existing building - which includes a 1938 main building, a 1956 wing, and several later additions - does not meet enrollment or educational needs and could jeopardize the school's accreditation. But opponents had urged voters to renovate and add to the existing building.
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EARLIER: The starkest battle lines over the Dec. 9 vote in Wellesley, Mass., on a property-tax increase for its proposed new high school - the town's largest-ever request for a capital improvement - seem not to be drawn by money. Many say say that the predominant topic of debate over the $87 million ballot measure is what it has been for years in Wellesley - new versus old. Proponents say the existing building - composed of a 1938 original section and several additions - is too small and too old and deteriorated to repair. Opponents say the building's inadequacies can be addressed through renovation and addition.
Read The Boston Globe article.
