Using prototype, Massachusetts town may build bigger school

Bigger may end up being cheaper in Norwood, Mass., which could provide the rest of the state with a lesson in how to build a high school. Norwood's School Committee will decide whether to approve plans for a 234,000-square-foot high school. It's the first application of the state School Building Authority's Model Schools Program, which aims to reduce costs by having towns replicate an existing design rather than start from scratch. The model is based on the five-year-old Whitman-Hanson High School design. Norwood school officials had approved an educational plan for a new high school, squeezing in as many curriculum components for the town's 1,100 students as possible in a 202,000-square-foot space. Now, the model schools program has given school officials a larger area to work with, so they will reintroduce items and programs that before, because of finances, were stuck on the wish list.

To read The Boston Globe article, click here.