Killam School Building Project Update

This week the project team has focused on completing a variety of project tasks, website updates and augmentations, preparing for Monday’s upcoming Traffic and Site Community Listening Session, and ensuring our communications are reaching as much of the community as possible.

Weekly update highlights include:

  • The Killam School Building Committee met Monday in a regularly scheduled meeting and reviewed Tasks Completed, Sustainability Goals, Educational Visioning Outcomes, and Next Steps.
    • At this time Educational Visioning, Space Program, Site Survey and Sustainability Goals are completed.
    • The Traffic Study analysis is underway. A community listening session will happen on MONDAY, March 18, from 7-8:30PM to present traffic study and listen to resident concerns. The results will be reported to the SBC on March 25 at the regularly scheduled meeting.
    • The Existing Conditions Assessments are complete and will be reported to the SBC at the March 25 meeting.
  • Owners Project Manager (OPM) Colliers reviewed project timeline and funding with the SBC. The Preliminary Design Program portion of the project remains on time and under budget! 
  • The Communications Subcommittee launched two short videos released on social media showing the community some of the work product from the educational visioning session and Principal Lindsay Fulton inviting the community to the March 18 meeting to discuss Traffic and Site conditions. More videos will be released in the coming weeks on the website detailing key project information.
  • The Communications subcommittee has also been working to reach residents across a variety of channels through school department newsletters, websites, social media, the Town Manager Minute, the DPW newsletter, and the Pleasantries newsletter for the Pleasant Street Center. We are always open to ideas on how to increase our reach.
  • Once again, the website is now live at www.KillamSchool.com.  There you can find a meeting calendar, project updates, background documents, and more. On the website visitors can sign up for specialized CodeRED Community Notifications related to project work and meetings.
  • The project’s new Facebook page is also live. Please like and follow us and share with your friends and neighbors. Click here to visit the new Facebook page.
  • The committee’s next outreach meeting is MONDAY, March 18, at 7PM at the Killam School cafeteria (note, this is a change of venue from RMHS).
  • The next Killam School Building Committee meeting is Monday, March 25, at 7PM at Reading Town Hall.

Killam School Building Committee Site & Traffic Listening Session

Join us for the next community meeting on Monday, March 18th at 7:00 PM at the Killam School to discuss traffic impact and site design. LBA and GPI, our traffic engineer, will share the findings of the traffic study and also solicit feedback and concerns from the community to inform traffic and site planning.

The activity will be annotating plans of the neighborhood with known traffic issues and concerns. We hope you can join us and share your knowledge of the traffic situation around the school.

Killam School Building Project Update

This week the project team has been hard at work meeting with the public and stakeholders developing sustainability goals, sharing the updated project charter, and working to understand educational programming needs for a new school.

Weekly update highlights include:

  • Lavalee Brensinger Architects (LBA) met with 21 stakeholder groups this week working on educational visioning including teachers, extended day, recreation, and police.
  • LBA and the Killam School Building Committee held a public engagement meeting on Thursday, February 29, about the revised project charter and sustainability goals. Click here to watch the meeting on RCTV.
  • Also on February 29 the new project website launched. Visit www.KillamSchool.com for a meeting calendar, project updates (like this one!) and more. On the website visitors can sign up for specialized CodeRED Community Notifications related to project work and meetings.
  • The project’s new Facebook page is also live. Please like and follow us and share with your friends and neighbors. Click here to visit the new Facebook page.
  • The committee’s next outreach meeting is Monday, March 18, at 7PM at the Killam School cafeteria (note, this is a change of venue from RMHS).
  • The next Killam School Building Committee meeting is Monday, March 11, at 7PM at Reading Town Hall.

Killam School Building Committee Sustainability Goals

Give us your feedback!

Join the Killam School Building Committee and the design team from Lavallee Brensinger Architects (LBA) on Thursday, FEBRUARY 29, 2024 from 5:30-7PM in the RMHS library to give your feedback on the sustainability goals identified for the new elementary school building project. A hybrid option will be available as well for those who prefer to participate remotely: https://readingpsma.zoom.us/j/85339034443

We want to hear from you!

*The Reading Memorial High School Library is on the second floor, accessible via elevator, at 62 Oakland Road.

Special thanks to Reading Recap for the drone image.

What’s Ahead in the Project

The Killam School Building Committee is currently reviewing bids from four firms to serve as the project designer. Later this month, the MSBA will convene a Designer Selection Panel to create and interview a shortlist of candidates, discuss the qualifications of each submission, vote on, and hire a design firm to bring us through the completion of this project. Following MSBA recommendations, the district will be represented by the Town Manager (Fidel Maltez), Superintendent (Dr. Thomas Milaschewski), and Killam School Building Committee Chair (Carla Nazzaro). Once a designer is on board in early December, things will ramp up quickly and the real work begins!

The Feasibility phase (MSBA Module Three) will then commence and last until the summer of 2024. The next step will be to move into the Schematic Design phase (MSBA Module Four) which will be completed by January 2025. During the Schematic Design phase, we will be soliciting input from various stakeholders in the town around ideas, feedback, and concerns around the potential designs and models for the building. Funding for the Project (MSBA Module Five) will be voted on by the Town in April 2025.

The School Committee and the Killam School Building Committee along with our Superintendent of Schools and Town Manager are thrilled to be part of the MSBA process and look forward to this partnership. We will keep the community informed as each phase of the process moves forward.

Killam School Building Community Meeting

The Killam School Building Committee is moving forward into the “design” stage of the planning for a new Killam School Building. The committee invites anyone in the Reading community to join us on January 11th for a community meeting to offer feedback as we begin the design process for the new Killam School!

The design architects for this project, Lavallee Brensinger Architects (LBA), will share information about the project process and the bulk of the meeting will be spent brainstorming and visioning as a community. Please click here to view the agenda.

Date: Thursday, January 11, 2024

Time: 5:15 – 6:45 PM

Location: Killam Cafeteria (333 Charles Street) For questions, please contact the Superintendent’s Office at 781-944-5800