April 16, 2009

School Building Committee Is Making Progress! As the school year comes to a close, the Longmeadow High School Building Committee (SBC) would like to update the residents of Longmeadow on the milestones reached during the last several months and the schedule of upcoming objectives to be reached over the summer and fall months.

On Thursday, March 5, 2009, the SBC voted unanimously to approve Josslin Lesser and Associates, Incorporated  of Watertown, Massachusetts as the Owner’s Project Manager (OPM) for the Feasibility Study/ Schematic Design portion of the Longmeadow High School project. The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) subsequently voted to accept Josslin Lesser as the Operating Project Manager for the town of Longmeadow.

Architecture Team
The SBC and the Town of Longmeadow are very pleased to be working with Josslin Lesser. They have provided us with a stellar team for the project. Josslin Lesser’s acumen in the field, their strong knowledge of MSBA regulations, and their solid relationship with the MSBA is essential. We look forward to this long journey with them! Since the selection of the OPM, the SBC has been working closely with Josslin Lesser on the Request for Services (RFS) for the Designer Architect who will conduct the feasibility study.

We are pleased to announce that during the month of April 9 architectural firms submitted proposals to perform the study for Longmeadow High School. The next steps in the architect selection process are primarily driven by the MSBA. These steps include sending 3 members of the SBC to meet with the MSBA on May 19, 2009 to participate in the MSBA Designer Selection Panel (DSP).

Designer Selection Panel
The DSP consists of 12 state representatives and 3 members of the Longmeadow SBC. This panel will review the proposals from each of the architectural firms and rank them. The top 3 firms will then be asked to return in June for interviews with the entire DSP, including the local representatives.

After the interviews, a firm will be selected and contract negotiations will begin. We are fully expecting the selected firm to start the feasibility study in June.
The additional target dates are as follows:
  • Educational Visioning & Programming: June - July 2009
  • Development of Alternatives: August - September 2009
  • Public Forum to Discuss Feasibility Study Findings: September 2009
  • Recommendation of Preferred Solution: October 2009
  • Schematic Design of Preferred Solution: November 2009 - February 2010
  • MSBA Project Scope & Budget Conference: February - March 2010
  • MSBA Board Vote: March 2010
  • Town Meeting Approval of Project: April 2010