As the Appropriation Committee liaison to the SBC, I have attended nearly every full School Building Committee (SBC) meeting and I understand why the SBC has arrived at the current plan, a plan that makes sense. The proposed building is neither too big nor too small. While the design enrollment of “Bloom” is 2395 students, it could easily accommodate 3000 students by changing the classroom utilization, by converting space intended for the Central Office to classrooms, and by virtue of a modest addition that will be partially planned and prepared in advance. The current enrollment of about 2420 students will not be the enrollment in 2030 when a new “Bloom” facility would be occupied, due to two factors. First, the enrollments in the lower grades that feed the high school have dropped substantially over the past 5 years, and the promotion of those students to LHS will tend to decrease the LHS enrollments by 2030. Second, there will be students coming to LHS from new multifamily housing allowed by the zoning changes from 2023 Article 34. I am optimistic that the 2025-1 special town meeting will vote to reduce the potential development of new multifamily housing. The most recent assessment by LPS of the numbers of high school students in apartments and condos in Lexington finds that an extrapolation of the current occupancy pattern to the new housing implies there would likely be 53 to 97 LHS students in the 598 new units approved, as of late January 2025.  This then extrapolates to 157 to 287 LHS students in 1770 units, the nominal development capacity in the current proposal for the special town meeting (this number doesn’t include properties that could individually file to extend their present building rights).  Of course, the number of students per unit in new housing could be or even will likely be higher than in similar existing housing.  In any case “Bloom” could accommodate up 700 or 800 such students.

Bloom would have building systems that function, unlike those in the existing building. It is highly likely to receive MSBA support, will only minimally disrupt operation of the existing school during construction, can be completed in 3 or 4 years after construction starts, and will be very energy efficient.