Permanent School Building Construction Committee Votes to Proceed with Permanent Roof Plans for Burned-Out Junior High South and Aaron Guild School-September 15, 1972

Meeting for the second consecutive week, the permanent school building construction committee voted unanimously last night to direct project architects Korslund, LeNormand and Quan (KLQ) to draft plans for a permanent roof on the fire-damaged Junior High South prior to the onset of winter.

Permanent Roof Plans and Temporary Repair Debate

The proposed roof structure is designed to protect the fire-damaged building from winter weather elements while serving permanently as the future roof for the Aaron Guild Elementary School conversion project.

Committee Chairman Ernest S. Paciorkowski initially opposed immediate construction, pointing out that over $100,000 had already been expended on temporary repairs since the structure was damaged by fire in January 1971. KLQ architect James McGrath reported that after consulting with roofing contractors, the firm determined that no contractor could finish the roof before severe winter weather set in, warning that putting the project out to bid immediately might yield no bidders. McGrath suggested opting instead for $5,000 to $10,000 in temporary repairs to the roof skylight and stairwells—the primary areas currently suffering from rain and wind penetration—while coordinating skylight removal and snow load requirements with Norwood Building Inspector John E. Grover and the state Department of Public Safety.

However, committee member Richard W. Kief strongly advocated for moving forward, arguing that waiting would jeopardize the targeted September 1973 completion date. Kief contended that even if the roof construction extended into winter, putting the project out to bid now would accelerate the overall timeline. After McGrath confirmed KLQ would attempt to complete drawings within two weeks, the committee voted unanimously to move forward.

Aaron Guild School Space Utilization and Endean Park Junior High Approval

During preliminary plan discussions for the Aaron Guild School conversion, the committee settled several space utilization debates:

• Ground Floor Layout: Voted to leave the existing shower-locker facility intact for community athletic programs, and swapped the locations of administrative offices and the instructional media center to position offices near the main entrance for security while providing natural lighting for the library.
• Classroom Additions: Rejected a proposal to add extra classroom space on the second floor above the offices, with Kief noting that reframing the area for $31,000 was cost-prohibitive since those rooms were absent from educational specifications.
• Partition Walls: Left as an alternate the demolition of eight classroom partition walls and their replacement with folding partitions, estimated at $500 for demolition per wall and $4,000 to $5,000 per folding partition, which Superintendent Dr. Philip O. Coakley and Assistant Superintendent Umberto V. Napoleone stressed were vital to meet state classroom space requirements.

In major milestone news, the permanent building construction committee announced that the School Building Assistance Bureau (SBAB) has approved final plans and specifications for the new $5.9 million junior high school slated for Endean Park. The SBAB approval guarantees the town a 65 percent construction reimbursement, shielding Norwood from a projected drop to 50 percent expected when the legislature reviews reimbursement formulas after November 1. Assistant Superintendent James R. Donovan reported that general contract bids will be received by October 11, with groundbreaking to follow weeks later. Architect McGrath noted that seven to nine contractor inquiries indicate strong bidding interest, though committee members expressed surprise that the $28,000 athletic field watering system specifications omitted an automatic grid sprinkler setup, prompting McGrath to draft a bidding alternate for an automatic system.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger