Dracut Coalition to Build our Schools

Dracut Coalition to Build our Schools This page is dedicated to repairing and rebuilding Dracut's aging elementary schools. This is not the ballot question comm.

Formed as Ad Hoc Coalition to Fix our Schools in 2019, we lobbied for funding of the new school roofs at Brookside and Englesby.

Some have asked if the district needed to pursue the core program to completely overhaul or replace the two elementary s...
06/20/2026

Some have asked if the district needed to pursue the core program to completely overhaul or replace the two elementary schools serving the eastern half of Dracut. Well, just take a look at guidelines that MSBA has on its web site for smaller repairs.

The short answer is that if your school needs too much work, sorry we can't help. Brookside and Englesby qualified but Campbell did not, and nor did Greenmont.

Greenmont classrooms are tiny and there are 7 levels, meaning too many ramps and stairs. Campbell was also not designed to meet today's needs. (Brookside and Englesby still work because they were designed as middle schools initially.)

The only way Dracut can get grant funds is to pursue a full overhaul. After a 30 month study the team determined that a fully new school would deliver the best long term value for the students as well as the tax payers.

Dracut has one of the newer libraries in the area. Some of the newest fire stations. One of the newer police stations. B...
06/19/2026

Dracut has one of the newer libraries in the area. Some of the newest fire stations. One of the newer police stations. But then...

The 4th floor (or 3rd floor looking from the East) will hold the two upper grades. Maybe it would have been ideal to cal...
06/19/2026

The 4th floor (or 3rd floor looking from the East) will hold the two upper grades. Maybe it would have been ideal to call this level "3" and then to call the pre-K level a "B" or walkout Basement level.

This floor also has 2 1/2 SPED classrooms, in addition to 14 standard classrooms.

It's true that any building on a hill will look small when viewed from the top of the hill, and large when viewed from the bottom.

The third floor (or 2nd floor looking from the east) will house grades 2 and 3, along with 2 SPED rooms and a small gym ...
06/19/2026

The third floor (or 2nd floor looking from the east) will house grades 2 and 3, along with 2 SPED rooms and a small gym space. This is also the main entrance to the gymnasium.

This is not unlike Dracut High, where you will need to climb a set of stairs from the main floor to get up to the spacious Library ("learning commons") room where many school committee meetings have been held.

The next floor up (first floor looking from the east) houses grades K and 1 alone with 2 special education rooms and an ...
06/19/2026

The next floor up (first floor looking from the east) houses grades K and 1 alone with 2 special education rooms and an art room.

Floor Plan for the first floor. Note that there are only 7 classrooms planned. The pre-K (mostly SPED) design enrollmen...
06/19/2026

Floor Plan for the first floor. Note that there are only 7 classrooms planned. The pre-K (mostly SPED) design enrollment is 70.

To the right the elevations are lower which provides room for the cafeteria and kitchen spaces.

Here is a preview of the proposed parent dropoff entrance to the building. This side of the building, on the West, is on...
06/19/2026

Here is a preview of the proposed parent dropoff entrance to the building. This side of the building, on the West, is only 3 stories. For most of the kids, they will only interact with these three stories. (The Pre-K program is a small town wide program, about 60% special needs at this time.)

The footprint of the school is far more compact than the school complex buildings. The total square footage is 32% less than Dracut High, for example.

Dracut has another school on a sloped site: it's the Brookside.

The school is designed to fit the population, with K and 1 classrooms on West side floor one. Grades 2 and 3 are on West side floor two, and Grades 4 and 5 are on West side floor three.

Here is a preview of the proposed Bus Entrance for the school on the lower level, with the cafeteria area on the right s...
06/19/2026

Here is a preview of the proposed Bus Entrance for the school on the lower level, with the cafeteria area on the right side.

The site is built into a hill so that there are 3 stories on the East side and an additional (basement) level on the west. Floor 1 is a walk out basement with full size windows used only for Pre-K.

Many parents will not interact with this 4 story side of the school at all; it is the bus dropoff. The parent dropoff location is on the 3 story side, in the next post.

The large structure on the right is just 2 stories, since it houses both a cafeteria and a Gymnasium.

In 2020 Brookside also got a new roof, under the oversight of the Dracut permanent building committee (PBC).Like Englesb...
06/18/2026

In 2020 Brookside also got a new roof, under the oversight of the Dracut permanent building committee (PBC).

Like Englesby, Brookside needed only modest building code updates for ADA compliance. Thus it qualified for a project reimbursement of more than 50%.

The lowest bidder for this project was Greenwood Industries, based in Worcester. The net cost after state reimbursement came in 21% lower than anticipated.

For larger MSBA funded efforts like the Tyngsboro Elementary School, the Campbell project, or the Nashoba High School, there must be an OPM or owner's project manager tracking everything. The OPM provides weekly updates and reports during construction to the PBC in Dracut or the building committees in those other communities.

In 2020, the MSBA (Mass School Building Authority) awarded a grant to Brookside Elementary for Dracut's submission to th...
06/17/2026

In 2020, the MSBA (Mass School Building Authority) awarded a grant to Brookside Elementary for Dracut's submission to the Accelerated Repair Program. You can see the leaky roof on top, and the brand new roof (as of fall 2020) on the bottom.

The project included a full roof and flashing replacement, electrical work on the wiring for HVAC, and ADA accessibility throughout the school. The district only applied for Brookside and Englesby because program requires you to prioritize. Also, the other very old elementary schools needed more structural changes to be compliant with ADA and safety codes than the Accelerated Repair Program would allow.

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Dracut, MA
01826

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