A vote on what could be the state’s most expensive school ever is roiling communities north of Boston

Bookshelves tucked away in a bathroom. Makeshift classrooms squeezed into hallways. Ceiling tiles that show years of water damage. A wastewater treatment plant at risk of catastrophic failure.

Conditions at the 50-year-old Whittier Tech vocational school in Haverhill have reached a dire turning point, and the way Superintendent Maureen Lynch frames it, there are really only two paths forward: Spend $364 million and a decade or more bringing the school up to code, or approve a new $444.6 million building. 

With an eye-watering price tag and lingering questions about who will bear the brunt of the cost, rankled residents north of Boston are searching for answers. 

And the clock is ticking; on Tuesday, voters in the 11 communities that make up Whittier Tech’s school district will decide whether to approve funding for what could be the most expensive high school ever built in Massachusetts. 

How did Whittier Tech get here?

There are 11 communities locked in a 1967 agreement to operate Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School: The cities of Amesbury, Haverhill, and Newburyport, and the towns of Georgetown, Groveland, Ipswich, Merrimac, Newbury, Rowley, Salisbury, and West Newbury. 

The Whittier Tech building dates back to 1973, pre-Americans With Disabilities Act and at the height of an “open schools” movement that championed non-traditional classroom setups and wide-open spaces.

According to the Whittier Building Project website, the school’s mechanical and electrical systems have exceeded their useful life, accessibility issues abound, and Haverhill’s building inspector has declared that the city will not approve any further renovations unless the building is retrofitted for a sprinkler system. 

“This isn’t just a wishlist; this is required by law,” Lynch said during an informational meeting in Georgetown back in November. She noted that the building has crept toward its current impasse despite years of updates and maintenance.

“We have done everything we can without having to burden the taxpayers of the district,” Lynch said. 

District officials have been exploring various building options since 2022, according to the project website. As Lynch explained it, code compliancy would take a decade or more and cost about $364 million, versus three to four years and just shy of $445 million for a new school.

But funding from the Massachusetts School Building Authority and other grants would reduce the district’s share to about $267.5 million for a new building. According to the project website, the code compliancy upgrades wouldn’t be eligible for reimbursement from the state — meaning the communities could wind up paying nearly $100 million more for the repairs than for a new school.

What’s the financial impact for residents? 

The district agreement divides capital costs — including construction and renovation — based on the total number of school-aged children who live in each member community. Critics say this formula means that communities with lower Whittier Tech enrollment could wind up bearing a larger share of the building costs.

Newburyport Mayor Sean Reardon convened an information session earlier this month and offered a presentation breaking down each community’s share of the bill. His city, for example, currently sends only 29 students to Whittier Tech — 2.3% of the school’s 1,280 day students. Yet Newburyport has 11.5% of the district’s school-aged population, leaving it on the hook for a larger share of the capital costs. 

Compare that to Haverhill, which sends 867 students to Whittier Tech — 68% of school enrollment — but accounts for 41.6% of the district’s school-aged population. 

According to the presentation, Newburyport would pay about $31 million toward the project once MSBA funding factors in — a cost that could jump to more than $60 million after interest. That debt service breaks down to nearly $70,000 per enrolled student per year for Newburyport, compared to just over $8,000 for Haverhill, city officials explained.

“Something should happen at Whittier,” Reardon told The Boston Globe earlier this month. “Everyone agrees on that, but a half-billion-dollar-school for our 29 kids is not in the realm of possibility of what we can do.” 

Yet as Lynch explained in Georgetown in November, Whittier Tech is training a workforce that benefits the entire region. 

“If you’ve had to hire a plumber or if you’ve had to hire an electrician, or you’ve gotten your hair cut, one of those people has more than likely been from Whittier Tech,” she said. 

Elaine Bucher, a former Amesbury School Committee member and an English teacher at Whittier Tech, shared similar thoughts at the Jan. 9 meeting in Newburyport. 

“Yes, some of you may be sending very few students to Whittier,” Bucher acknowledged. “But I bet you need a plumber and an electrician. And that’s what we are creating for you.” 

She said she’s had to move classrooms several times due to issues with the building’s heat and electricity. 

“Whittier’s done a great job dealing with crappy facilities,” Bucher asserted. “It doesn’t mean that we don’t need better facilities.” 

Amid mounting opposition, the project’s general contractor, Consigli, and the Laborers Union Local 175 in Methuen have funded a “Yes for Whittier” campaign, The Eagle-Tribune in Lawrence reported. The campaign reportedly includes direct mailings and informational phone calls leading up to the vote.

The Whittier Building Project website also includes a calculator to help residents determine the potential increase to their own tax bill, depending on where they live and their home’s assessed value.

“I know that this is a large ask,” Lynch said during a heated line of questioning at the Georgetown meeting. “But I also know that I have to be able to flush the toilets in my building.”

What happens after Tuesday’s vote?

If voters greenlight the project on Tuesday, work on the new school would likely begin in 2025 and take about three years to complete, Lynch explained. If the vote fails, she said, the district would have to move forward with code upgrades immediately. 

But even if Tuesday’s vote passes, the question of funding could still be up in the air. Some municipal leaders in the district have expressed concern that the ballot question is effectively asking voters to put the cart before the horse — appropriating funding for the project before communities have lined up a way to pay their share through budget cuts or debt exclusion overrides. 

“As local leaders, we’re looked upon to do stuff like put together a five-year capital plan, and put together strategic planning committees, and look out 20 years into the future to see where our finances are going to be,” Ipswich Select Board member Michael Dougherty said at the Newburyport meeting. “And to have a project like this dropped in our laps with not that much notification is unfortunate [and] something that we’re grappling with.” 

Merrimac Select Board Chairman Chris Manni warned that without an override, a new school could result in “deep” cuts throughout the town’s budget. 

“We’re talking about essential services that are feeding our folks, keeping our folks safe, and making sure our children get educated,” Manni said.

The polls will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday across the district; the vote will be decided through an aggregate simple majority vote. 

“There’s really no right or wrong answer for this,” Dougherty said. “All you can do, when you go to the ballot box, is take a look at the numbers, take a look at the facts, see where we’re at, and make the best decision that you can make.”

Abby Patkin

Staff Writer

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.

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