Name: Betsey Weiss
Address: 8 Dover Lane
Precinct: 2
e-mail address: betseyweiss [at] hotmail.com or weiss.betsey [at] gmail.com (
)phone number: 781-910-0471(cell) or 781-863-5602 (landline)

Community Activities: 

• Town Meeting Member, Precinct Two (2004- Present)-advocated for commercial tax growth and commercial tax revenue, affordable housing proposals, and senior housing at Town Meeting, before the Board of Selectmen and the Planning Board ;
• Housing Partnership Board (HPB) Vice Chair, previously served as Chair (2003- Present);
• Community Preservation Act (CPA) Campaign Co-Chair (2005- 2006); Community Preservation Committee Chair (2006- 2010); Community Preservation Committee Member (2010-2012);
• Affordable Housing Trust Study Committee (Ad-Hoc) (Jan. 2022- Nov. 2022);
• Special Permit Residential Development Zoning Bylaw Committee (Ad Hoc) ( Nov. 2018 - April 2023).
• Lexington Field and Garden Club Member- designed the Hartwell Avenue Compost Facility Garden across from the DPW trailer at the exit which was installed in April 2020; designed the rear entrance garden at Cary Memorial Library which was installed in March 2019;
• Youth Counseling Connection (formerly LYFS) Founder, Member, and now an Ambassador, an after- school teen suicide prevention nonprofit program on the Green. LYFS programming includes crisis counseling and advisors to LHS, Clarke, and  Diamond teen resiliency program “Sources of Strength,” (2008- present);
• LHS Landscaping Committee, Founder and Member (2002-2017); Worked on Override and Debt Exclusion Campaigns, including the DPW Campaign Committee that successfully built the new Samuel Hadley Public Services Building (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007);
• Lexington High School PTA Co-President (2000-2003);
• Bowman PTA Co- President (1993-1994).

The School Building Committee has approved a plan, “Bloom” for the new high school and building on the current playing fields in the Center. Do you support this decision? If not, what would you propose as an alternative?

I support the “Bloom” Design for the new high school building and its location on the athletic fields.

The existing high school was built from 1948-1965. The classrooms are completely overcrowded, and they are 95 degrees in May, June and September and 50 degrees in the winter. Students are eating on the hallway floors since there is no room in the cafeterias. If we renovate the existing structure to bring it up to code, the cost will be $300M dollars with no additional new space so it will still be overcrowded. Presently, the high school has more than 2,395 students and was built for 1850 students. (Sept. 18, 2024, Community Meeting presentation)

• Bloom is projected to be $ 662,000,000, which includes the new high school building, the Central Office and the renovated, expanded Field House. However, the cost will be approximately $522M with the $100M State Grant, the $9M Mass Save Grant and a $31M Ground Source HP IRA Rebate which is not guaranteed so the projected cost may be $553M. (Feb 6, 2025, Community Meeting presentation and Oct. 30 Community Meeting Presentation)
• Similar high schools, being built now as Waltham and Revere, are also seeing similar square foot costs due to the rising cost of construction materials after Covid. (Sept. 18, 2024, Community Meeting presentation)
• The Capital Stabilization Fund will help offset the burden of increased taxes from the new high school. For a median value home of $1,416,000 the taxes for the high school will start to increase in FY 2028 with a $300 tax increase and slowly rise to a peak of $ 1,774 tax increase in FY2036 and then taxes will start to decrease and move downward. (Feb. 6, 2025)
• Bloom was the desired design out of the 19 designs considered. (Oct. 30, 2024, Community Meeting Presentation - 19 designs cut down to 2 designs and on Nov.12, 2024 down to 1 design, Bloom.) Bloom will have three wings with four levels linked by a courtyard so there will be a lot of natural light. (Feb. 6, 2025)
• Bloom will take approximately 4.5 years to build. Three years to build the actual building which will be finished in 2029, and the site work will be finished at the end of 2030. (Feb. 6, 2025) The Weave Design which would have kept the fields was a phased renovation of the existing buildings and would have taken 2 years longer (6.5 years) and approximately $70M more than the Bloom Design as well as much, more disruptive to the students. (Oct. 30, 2024)
• Bloom is a compact design and was located so the least amount of field space would be used.
• Bloom will require a 1:1 land swap due to Article 97 and there is plenty of land where the existing buildings are located. This is frequently done to build new schools. (Feb. 6th, 2025)
• After the new Bloom building is finished in 2029, the existing high school building will be removed and become field space. In addition, as soon as the existing Old Harrington building is removed, athletic fields will be constructed. (The existing Old Harrington building costs too much to renovate.)
• Bloom Design will accommodate 2,395 students as well as another 850 students so up to 3,263 students
• Space Utilization- increasing class size from 23 to 25 and 90% space utilization rate that will accommodate an additional 343+ students.
• 17,000 sq. ft Central Office space can be converted into 12-14 more classrooms to accommodate another 244+ students
• An Addition to the new high school would add enough space to accommodate an additional 256+ students
• The above 3 strategies will accommodate another 850+ for a total number of 3,265 students
• FY2026= 6+ students FY2027= 60+ students FY2028=31+ students
• FY 2026+ 2,401 students. FY2027= 2, 452 students and FY 2028= 2,481 students
• Bloom Design & Known Housing Development_01-29-2025 - Google Docs
• Two important points to consider about enrollments:
• Elementary enrollments are declining which will impact future numbers at high school.
• Dr. Hackett’s Jan. 2025 Analysis on the 5 new multifamily developments ( 28 Meriam and 32 Edgewood St ( 10 units due in 2025-2026), 89 Bedford St. ( 30 units due in 2025-2026) 5-7 Piper Rd. ( 46 units due in 2027) , 17 Hartwell ( 312 units due in 2027), 329-331 Concord Ave. ( 200 units due in 2028. ) on how many new students there will be: 165 new elementary school students, 73 new middle school students and 79 new high school students for a total of 317 students from the 5 new developments.
• 2025-01-24 Enrollment & Housing Update
• The Field House will be expanded and renovated since this is the least expensive path forward. (Finance Summit on the Field House and Pool on Sept. 19, 2024)

I originally wanted the new high school not to be on the fields, to save the fields. I wanted the new high school in one of the two parking lots. However, there was not enough space for a new high school building in either parking lot. Weave Design, would have kept the fields; it was a phased renovation of the existing buildings; it would have taken 2 years longer (6.5 years); it was around $70M dollars more than Bloom and much more disruptive to the students so it was not the final option. (Oct. 30, 2024)

Therefore, I support and will vote for the Bloom Design which will be on the athletic fields.