Dedham, Mass., to get new elementary school building

FromThe Boston Globe: Voters in Dedham, Mass.,have approved a $12 million tax increase to pay for construction of a new Avery Elementary School. The new three-story, 61,000-square-foot school will be built a short distance from the existing facility. The Massachusetts School Building Authority had agreed to give Dedham an $11 million grant if the town pays the rest of the $23 million project. In 2007, the state school building agency deemed the Avery School one of the 67 worst school buildings in the state. A tributary from Mother Brook that runs under the 88-year-old building regularly raises the basement floor, eating away at the facility’s infrastructure and, recently, collapsing a gymnasium wall. The school also has been plagued by a range of other problems, from antiquated plumbing and basement bathrooms for the building’s 200-plus students to no handicap access, fire sprinklers, or kitchen facilities.