The cost of the most expensive capital project ever seen on Martha’s Vineyard was finalized on Wednesday morning, along with the reimbursement school officials can expect to see from a state-supported organization.
At $333.5 million, the planned renovation and addition of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) is a record-breaker. The reimbursement of about $71 million, while lower than the $78 million estimated by MVRHS building committee members, is still a significant win for the school committee.
“It’s wonderful,” superintendent of Island schools, Richard (“Richie”) Smith said of the reimbursement and cost finalization in an interview with The Times. “Now the work is to get the message out, and hopefully we get our approval from the Island which is just as, or more, important.”
Years of planning and the sanctity of the building project itself were hinged on approval by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) at Wednesday’s meeting, with the next binding decision to be made by Islanders themselves this summer.
On June 2, locals will vote on funding the project. $262.2 million is slated to be paid by Island taxpayers over a 30-year period based on a funding formula decided a couple years prior. If approved, the school, which is in significant disrepair with leaky pipes, mold, asbestos under floor tiles, and classroom size deficiencies, will start renovations as soon as the summer of 2027.
By that time, a new principal will be heading up the school. Just last week, it was announced that the search for someone to fill the leadership position has been whittled to two candidates. Both picks are from off-Island, with years of experience in high schools, but not with building projects. The candidates will tour the school, meet with the Island community, and get a first look at the state of the high school on Wednesday and Thursday of next week.
The new principal will help oversee all construction, with the help of the school committees, as well as next steps of the high school building project.
At the meeting on Wednesday morning, most of the MVRHS school building committee were witness to the cost approval. Michael Owens, the project manager, presented as a spokesperson for the Vineyard group, but much of the meeting was led by the MSBA, who had conducted their own calculations based on the information that the school committee submitted to them in December.
Any community fallout or support will largely fall to a new principal and the new superintendent, both of whom will be inaugural members of the Island school community and haven’t experienced firsthand the details of the project thus far.
But with all the change, school officials said they’re excited to finish this chapter and flip to the next page in a long building process.
“It’s definitely a big milestone,” Smith said.