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The new school at 115 Sycamore Street

Updated November 8, 2026

What's happening

The state has cleared the 925-seat school at 115 Sycamore Street to move into schematic design, and the city shows residents the design on Tuesday, November 10. At its October board meeting the Massachusetts School Building Authority "voted to formally approve the project's advancement into the Schematic Design phase," the stage where the building's detailed design gets worked out (New School Building Project newsletter, Oct 28; the city's construction newsletter, Oct 29). The Cambridge Somerville Independent, which dated the meeting Thursday, October 29, reported that cost wasn't discussed. State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, who chairs the MSBA, promised "a 21st century educational facility" (Independent, Oct 29). The vote settles the size question at the state level. The MSBA's Facilities Assessment Subcommittee had already given the project what Infrastructure Director Rich Raiche called "a successful meeting," and its main facility questions were about maintaining the planned rooftop field (Oct 6 digest).

The November 10 community forum runs 6–8 p.m. in Somerville High School's Highlander Forum, 81 Highland Ave. Mayor Jake Wilson and Superintendent Rubén Carmona will lay out the city and district's "shared vision," Perkins Eastman will present the preferred design submitted in late August, and the design team will explain schematic design before taking questions, including concerns (city announcement, Oct 21). The Independent's week-ahead list bills it as residents' chance to ask questions and make suggestions to the architects (Independent, Nov 8). The School Building Committee met on Zoom on November 2 to see early facade design and exterior materials; what it saw isn't in our sources yet. Two days after the forum, on November 12, the School Committee's School Assignment Advisory Committee meets at the high school on community-engagement strategy and enrollment data. The district has promised a review of catchment areas and assignment policy because of the new school; the preview doesn't say whether it's on that agenda.

Raiche said there is "no slip in the schedule." Wilson told the October 7 Ward 3 Neighborhood Connect meeting that projected completion has moved up from December 2031 to February 2031 (Tufts Daily, Oct 20). Raiche named the remaining "big hurdle": the Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion vote.

The design is a PK-8 school for the Winter Hill site, about $224.5 million, by Perkins Eastman. The city filed it in late August and announced it September 9. It replaces the 403-student Winter Hill Community Innovation School and absorbs the Benjamin G. Brown School, Somerville's oldest and smallest (built 1900, about 225 K-5 students on Willow Avenue), which eventually closes. Wilson has promised the Brown stays open through at least the 2031/32 school year, and said in March that a vote to close it "can't happen until we're on the other side of a debt exclusion vote." An organized opposition wants 690 seats instead and has more than 1,200 residents on record. It lost the August round and now the state round, so its remaining leverage is the debt-exclusion vote.

The story

A ceiling collapse, then eighteen months of nothing

On June 2, 2023, a piece of concrete fell in a stairwell of the 1974 Winter Hill school after years of deferred maintenance, and the building closed for good (Independent, Sept. 9). Its students were split between the Edgerly Education Center and the Capuano Early Childhood Center (School buildings and the schools' other fights). The Brown had been on the replace-or-renovate list for decades; the city wanted both replaced, but the state approved only one project and suggested combining them.

The MSBA, which pays roughly 40–50% of an approved project, invited Somerville into its eligibility period on Dec. 13, 2023. Then-Mayor Katjana Ballantyne appointed a Construction Advisory Group to decide whether to rebuild Winter Hill alone or build one school that absorbs the Brown. The process went badly. Winter Hill parent Matthew Daniels told the Tufts Daily that "there was about 18 months where the city did not make any direct communication to the Winter Hill community about this project." Cambridge Day reported in June 2025 that a five-to-seven-year timeline had become 2031, and the size had climbed from about 600 students to 925.

The 925 decision

The CAG's December 2025 recommendation was unanimous on the Sycamore site, and a majority backed the maximum the state will fund, 925 students. A majority also said the School Committee should still run its own process on whether closing the Brown is appropriate, and the opposition says the city keeps skipping that step.

Wilson committed on Jan. 22, 2026 to "the largest possible capacity, at 115 Sycamore Street as quickly as possible." The School Committee approved the educational program 7-4-2, and on March 23 the School Building Committee voted 10-2 to carry only 925-seat options forward (March 23 digest). When the MSBA asked for a 925-seat test fit on the Brown's lot, Raiche said it would take "a very slender high rise" (April 30 digest).

The final vote to file was not unanimous. Council President Lance Davis, who sits on the School Committee, voted no, calling a "massive, nearly 1,000-seat school at the expense of two of our smallest and most creative, successful or innovative schools" a "huge mistake." Vice Chair Leiran Biton, who opposed consolidation in the spring, voted yes "to avoid any delays": "that debate is over" (Tufts Daily, Sept. 10). Chair Emily Ackman's case is fiscal: one MSBA-funded project for two buildings "beyond their usable lifespan" instead of two.

"Stop gaslighting us"

Somerville Neighborhood School Advocacy wants a 690-seat school on the same site and schedule. It argues that 925 seats would more than double traffic on Sycamore Street, eliminate one of three walkable elementary options on the west side, and cost more to build and run, with kindergarten seats at West Somerville and the Kennedy already full and Clarendon Hill's 591 new units adding demand.

Its sharpest complaint is about sequencing. The district concedes the change "will affect student assignment and family choice across the district" (SPS), yet the catchment and assignment review comes after the filing that locks in 925 seats. In a July 22 Somerville Times op-ed, "Stop Gaslighting Us," the group said Wilson's $90 million figure for making the Brown ADA-compliant also covers a new cafeteria and gym, and that a 2022 plan put the ADA work alone near $2 million.

What the design and the numbers say

The chosen "Option 4" is about 180,600 square feet and six stories, in three age-based clusters (PreK–3, 4–6, 7–8) around a shared cafetorium and gym. Its "rooftop" play space is reachable at street level from Evergreen and Sycamore streets (Aug. 3 presentation).

The August 3 estimates put prices on the argument. A 690-seat new building at Sycamore was $198.6 million and a 925-seat one $226.1 million; the three 925-seat finalists ran $217.0 to $226.5 million. Repairing the closed Winter Hill building would cost $84.1 million, and 925 seats on the Brown site $247.4–262.9 million. Geothermal ($7.9 million), underground parking ($15.6 million) and a solar canopy ($3.7 million) are priced as add-alternates. Test borings found high ledge, which makes underground parking expensive, and bedrock that looks good for geothermal (Sept. 8 digest). Internal decisions on sustainability, including a go/no-go on mass timber, were due around November. Per the October 8 project newsletter, the team has walked the site with city arborists to decide which trees can survive construction.

The vote that decides it

The city borrows its share, and raising taxes above the Proposition 2½ levy limit to carry that debt takes voter approval. Raiche said October 6 the design team will have everything ready by summer 2027. Whether the vote comes at a special election or the November 2027 municipal election is up to the mayor, Council and School Committee, "a little bit of a political calculation." Biton said his first instinct is input from "the broadest possible slice of the electorate," which points to November. The August 3 schedule showed a June special, and the Independent's October 29 story still describes a special June 2027 ballot as expected. The Council, which must approve School Building Committee spending, is the second pressure point; see the FY27 budget for how tight the money already is.

What's next

  • November 10, 2026, 6–8 p.m.: community forum with Wilson, Carmona and Perkins Eastman, Somerville High School Highlander Forum, 81 Highland Ave.
  • November 12, 2026, 6 p.m.: the School Assignment Advisory Committee on community engagement and enrollment data, at Somerville High.
  • About November 2026: internal conclusions on mass timber and other sustainability choices.
  • Fall 2026: Somerville Public Schools has said it will share a timeline for reviewing catchment areas and assignment policy.
  • About February 2027: geothermal go/no-go after more borings.
  • Feb. 24, 2027: schematic design submission to the MSBA, with MSBA approval scheduled for April 28, 2027.
  • Summer 2027: design ready for a debt-exclusion vote, at a June special (the Independent's expectation) or November 2027; officials haven't formally chosen.
  • Construction: the August schedule showed January 2029 to late 2031; Wilson now projects completion in February 2031. The Brown stays open through at least the 2031/32 school year.