Name: Olga P. Guttag
Address: 273 Emerson Road
Precinct: 6
e-mail address: GuttagConsulting [at] gmail.commichaelschanbacherlexpb [at] gmail.com (
)phone number:
Community Activities:
- Since our move to Lexington in 1984 I led the State-wide effort to mandate kids’ use of bike helmets.
- I had leadership roles in delivering $25K landscaping project of the old Fiske grounds, a $70K+ old Fiske playground and a $225K Lexington Skate Park (still in use).
- As a volunteer I worked 60+hrs/week as a client representative for the duration of the early 2000’s renovations of Diamond, Clarke and LHS. Per letter from Superintendent Benton, I saved our school system over $1Million during this period.
- I served in Town Meeting and later on the School Committee from 2003-2007.
- Since Feb 2024, when I learned of the $660M price for the renewed LHS, I have spent close to full time studying the LHS project and looking for a better (less expensive, off the fields, right-size) solution to this problem. I am now convinced that this solution exists and I hope that our SB and SC finally decide to explore it ASAP.
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 strongly oppose the construction of Bloom because it is too expensive (in $/student), in the wrong location and probably the wrong size. The reasons I oppose building in the fields are as follows:
- Bloom unnecessarily divides the fields and takes away the largest public space our Town has
- The site where it is proposed is critical to proper functioning of the entire environmental basin where the rec area and school currently stand.
- To be built Bloom will require the removal of protections of Art. 97 by the MA legislature (called land-swap). This is usually a routine process because little community opposition exists. In Lexington’s case there is a large group of residents who oppose building in the fields. In our case, attaining the land-swap can be slowed down for multiple years or stopped altogether. Cost of such slow-down is at least $20M/year. Why gamble on getting the fields quickly when another, better, solution exists; one that will address LHS overcrowding about a year faster than Bloom, protects the fields and will deliver us the right-sized school?
I have come up with a plan that allows Lexington to retain the MBTA $100M grant even for our stages project. In addition, this plan, following the 2015 Master Plan suggestion by these same architects, delivers a Stage 1 building in place of Foreign Lang. Bldg. a year earlier than Bloom opens. This Stage 1 building will have enough space to relocate into it all core subject classrooms, including science labs - reducing LHS overcrowding by Fall, 2028 so LHS will have space to reintroduce the academic electives lost to overcrowding. By 2028/29 we should have enough data from some new MBTA developments to allow us to better project future LHS enrollments. This will allow us to “right-size” Stage 2, while at the same time we negotiate for additional funding from MSBA and other govt. sources. The Bloom design, even if extended at a cost of least additional $100M will only accommodate 3,700 students at 95+% overcrowded capacity. According to my estimates, Stage 2 could be built (as one or more buildings) to accommodate between 4,000 and 4,500 students at the desired 85% capacity. Stage 2 should be completed by Fall 2032 (no later than 2033), preserving the open space of the rec complex and delivering an LHS our students deserve and should have. Before you continue to push for Bloom, please give the newest approach to a Staged design a serious look. I am happy to answer your questions or even set up a zoom presentation on the Staged plan.
