Swampscott High School

Overview

Aging school facilities with no appropriate sites for expansion challenged SMMA’s master planning effort for the Town of Swampscott, Massachusetts. 

SMMA surveyed the Town’s four elementary, middle, and high school, focusing on both existing physical conditions and compliance with recommended standards of the Massachusetts Board of Education. 

SMMA facilitated a series of community meetings to discuss and evaluate the various options, and concluded that: 

• Each of the schools required expansion to meet educational space criteria. 

• Replacement of the existing middle school and two older elementary schools was more economical than renovations.

• The two newest elementary schools and the existing high school were good candidates for expansion and renovation.

As a result, the School Committee and Town Meeting endorsed SMMA’s recommendation to construct a new 850 student high school on a town-owned recreation, Jackson Park site as the first phase of a long-term master plan. 

As the “flagship” educational facility in the town, the school’s publicly used spaces—cafeteria, gymnasium and auditorium are grouped adjacent to the main entry of the school providing convenient access and use beyond regular school hours.