Based on comments elsewhere here — and Tweets from The TAB — the CSBC voted unanimously to support the original design plan tonight. I will leave it to others to provide details and analysis.
Cabot School to follow original design plan
by Greg Reibman | Jun 2, 2016 | Newton | 29 comments
Terrific, that is the correct decision. Not the perfect decision, but the correct decision based on where we were in the process.
I think this decision is a credit to the committee, and also a credit to the many many people who came together to push the committee and our city councilors to make the correct decision in the end. I know a lot of parents who are very frustrated with the process and the last month, and I share that frustration. I’m glad we are past this decision.
I will note that there was damage done. The approved plan had been veted with MHC and Newton Historic from my understanding. The knowledge that another “plan” exists, no matter how half baked, has the potential to cause delays at those levels. I’m hopeful that the strong reaction of the community, and the unanimous vote of the committee, and the clear advantages of the approved plan will win the day.
fignewtonville, I respectfully disagree with your assessment. Last night I spoke to the city’s historic preservation planner, who has experience dealing with the MHC, including with Angier. My comments were based on my discussion with her. As you know, as part of the requisite feasibility study, the CSBC looked at a lot of conceptual plans before adopting Plan A, and it is likely the MHC will ask why this plan, which totally conceals part of the historic facade from public view, was adopted over those other plans including several options previously rejected that are similar to Plan B. So, based on the information I have, you should not lay the blame at Susan’s or Emily’s doorstep.
I also find myself in the unusual position of defending Councilor Norton (with whom I occasionally snipe on Village 14, as you have so graciously pointed out). Some supporters of plan A have convinced themselves that the Mayor and Emily were in cahoots to get Horace Mann moved to Carr before Cabot could get in there. Nothing could be further from the truth. There was no grassy knoll here folks, and the people who spread vicious gossip like that do a real disservice to the community and to the public servants who spend many hours working for you for very little compensation. It was both unkind and unwarranted, and Emily is owed an apology.
As I said, a lot of fence mending lies ahead–for people on all sides of this debate.
Dredging up fringy old rumors serves no good purpose. The Cabot community was reassured at every step along the way by every elected officials that they were going to Carr in September 2019. It’s time to move on and focus on getting this project rolling.
Jake suggested that process is as/more important than outcomes. From an outcomes perspective, I’m happy we ended up with Plan A. (Although like Ted, think we should have had a new school from the start). However, the process to get there was very poor. And there are lessons that are worth highlighting and acknowledging to ensure we don’t run into the same problems again.
1. Lack of contingency planning.
As I’ve said before, we should have never been in the position we were in last night. The “pause” was completely avoidable. The possibility of Potter purchase was not a surprise that showed up in February, and the CSBC should have prepared the alternative designs months before in the 2nd half of 2015. Susan and Emily, the two leading proponents of exploring Plan B, should have raised this concern much earlier in the process. Emily sort of acknowledged this in a prior thread, but this needs full exposure. We created a delay in the Cabot process that was fully avoidable due to our own poor planning. It should not have happened, and should not happen again for future school projects.
2. Poor transparency and communication.
Emily posted last night that if the educational program was equal she would have preferred Plan B. I don’t understand that in the context of her supporting Plan A in April, months AFTER the Potter property purchase. Marti posted other comments from CSBC members that suggested diligence in considering north-side placements in April, yet somehow the decision to revisit happened a month later. Something happened. I’m a reasonably informed citizen, and have no real understanding why this happened. Part of the frustration by many in the Cabot community is that there was close to ZERO transparency into the decisions being made over the past few months. So while a sympathize with the concern over conspiracy rumors, they were filling a void created by our City Councilors who did not come remotely close to communicating the reasons behind revisiting this decision and delaying the timeline of the project. Office hours, meetings, emails– any broad communication to the Cabot community would have helped. None was done. It gave the appearance that there was something worth hiding. I genuinely believe that today given no data to the contrary. That was another big mistake that should not be repeated.
3. Being forthright
Part of the concern was the feeling the goalposts were moving. The project was stated multiple times as being “on-time” in reference to a September 2019 opening– which is not the timeline. Its hard to trust your leadership when they aren’t being fully forthright on the situation. When justifications are made (by Emily) that “a mid-year move isn’t ideal anyways, so September 2019 is better than January 2019”– a statement not consistent with the experience of the Angier community and contrary to the initial plan– its hard to trust your leadership.
People in the community are going to be understandably panicky given these mistakes. All of this was avoidable, and if it was, would have made the process significantly better.
I hope Susan, Emily and others in leadership take these lessons to heart for future projects. We all make mistakes, the key is learning from them.
Ted:
I understand your perspective on the first half of your post, but we are going to have to agree to disagree. The Plan B laid the groundwork for a MHC objection in a way that is quite unfortunate. Perhaps I’m wrong. We’ll see if and when NHC and MHC kick the project back and what they reference as alternative siting. It is certainly possible that both entities will take the logical approach, realize that the other buildings in Newton were just torn down in similar situations, and not make the historic perfect be the enemy of the historic good. I have my doubts though.
As for your second paragraph, please note that I defended Emily from the silly rumor about Horace Mann immediately, that I think at most it was hinted at by one poster on this blog, and it was Emily that brought it to everyone’s attention in her second post on the prior thread. Doesn’t seem fair to cast the many hundreds of folks who pushed hard and ethically over the past month to do what was best for our kids and the local school in with a few moronic conspiracy theorists. If Emily is owed an apology, it is by those folks, not the posters on this blog.
As for fence mending, when an issue brings together diverse posters like Paul and I in terms of Newtonville perspectives, when most of our complaints revolve around lack of communication and discourse, when Newtonville residents are doing the civicly responsible thing by advocating passionately and respectfully for our community through a blog for the most part, I’m not sure I’ve got a fence to mend on my side. Paul’s supported Emily forcefully in the past, I’ve supported Susan the same way. We both expressed equal frustration. I’m a Cabot parent. I care about my school and my kids. So does Paul and others. I’ll be advocating the same way in the future. If my representatives can’t explain why they vote with rational discourse, I won’t be voting for them again.
Thank you for the kind words Ted. As for communications, I posted here, I had my usual office hours (during which Cabot was discussed), I responded to numerous emails and also numerous phone calls. There was a diversity of opinion on whether a pause should be taken, even within the Cabot parent community. All I can tell you is I’m doing the best I can to listen to all sides and make the right decisions, as I believe all my colleagues do. That does not mean everyone will be happy with where I end up, that is simply the nature of this business.
@Emily
Re: office hours– I meant to clarify this from my earlier post. I know you have office hours. Have no idea when and where. If I don’t, then most Cabot community members probably don’t either. Given the concerns involved, it would have been to everyone’s benefit if you had both advertised your office hours (newsletter? postings at Cabot?) and considered doing something like Jake did by showing up at Cabot itself. This was a time for over-communication, not the status quo.
The other points above still hold– not enough transparency on your decisions (why did you vote for Plan A in April and then change your mind right afterwards?), mistakes made in the planning process and not being fully forthright in my view. Your argument that a mid-year move was not great to justify a delay to September 2019, really rubbed me the wrong way. Everyone I’ve spoken to said Angier went really well. Its just felt like an argument to justify your position, not an actual true statement.
Also, your seemingly flippant dismissal of a 500 signature petition from the Cabot community, bothered MANY, I can tell you that as well. A lot of effort went into making 500 members of the community sign that within 3 days– just so you would hear their voice. Your reaction to that was very disappointing.
@fig, my comment about the shabby way Emily was treated was not directed at you.
With respect to historic review, if the Newton Historic Commission approves the plan then it is pretty unlikely that MHC will override that approval. But folks should be aware that the NHC may have a different view from the CSBC (sorry for the alphabet soup) about whether Plan A is the best plan from their perspective regarding historic preservation. Indeed, I was a little surprised when the NHC found that Zervas was preferably preserved. So I think you are being a little unfair, but as you say, we will have to agree to disagree.
@Ted
Process question:
The CSBC didn’t necessarily say that Plan A is the best plan from a historic preservation perspective, as much as it was the best possible while meeting the educational program requirements. If the NHC is only looking at the historical preservation, and other site options did a better job preserving but did not meet education program requirements– how is that handled? Are they actually in a position to disagree on whether other options meet education requirements?
I realize that the NHC is all for preserving history, but they might not have the knowledge of what is best for the school coming from an educational perspective. A school should be built to maximize education for the children and the community. A school should not be preserved because it is a historic building, and must still function as a school. Either the NHC could purchase the “historic” school and use it as something besides a school, but to preserve it because it is historic and still use it for modern educational needs does not always work.
@Paul, Emily in fact did attend the Cabot open office hours with me, where she engaged in vigorous discourse. She emailed and posted dozens if not hundreds of times – I know because I was cc’d on most of them. And her office hours are well broadcast on her email list, which is read by thousands of citizens across the city.
Your posts on this and other topics continue to evince a casual disregard of the facts. @Fig is often hard on elected officials, but he does his homework. You would be a better contributor if you followed suit.
@Jake
Didn’t know she attended the office hours with you. My mistake. That doesn’t change that there is a general feeling among the Cabot community that its been left in the dark these last few months. That’s a fact. So while you found a small error in my post, the larger point was that this issue merited a much more proactive approach to communicating with constituents, not just by responding to emails and an occasional office hours. For example, it would have been better for all three of you to have 1-2 nights hearing the concerns of residents– on both sides– in an open forum. “Open” is not a word to describe the process of the past few months.
The “casual disregard of the facts” comment is silly and inaccurate (without any substantiation, its just a personal attack). The rest of my post above stands– feel free to rebut.
Most important in that post is that these alternatives should have been assessed months earlier, when the Potter purchase was a possibility. That would have been the best process, to use your words. This delay was avoidable.
As someone who favored the alternate design, a perspective that I feel has not been well-represented in this and other forums, I have a few thoughts to share. First of all, I am not an abutter, not a Ward 2 Councillor, and not part of some “vocal minority” (at least not the vocal part, anyway). I’m just a Newtonville resident and Cabot parent for the last 8 years. I am also, like Emily Norton, and like one of the few brave gentlemen who spoke in favor of the alternate plan at the June 2 meeting, a Cabot School alumna.
When I look at the alternate design, I see the past and the future side by side, complementing one another. It strikes me as honest, forthright. The Plan A design looks like the averaging of the committee mind. The past is there, begrudgingly tolerated, surrounded by a phalanx of appendages.
I have heard many of the “Plan A” supporters make comments like “I moved here for the schools”. That is great! I moved back here for the schools, too. But I also liked the idea that my kids would go to the same schools I went to. I will get that wish, at Cabot (if not at North) since my younger child only has one year left. But maybe someday, my grandchildren will attend a new Cabot. I never heard a Plan A supporter say that. I get the feeling that many of the Plan A supporters were not keen on the decision to preserve any of the original building. It seems that any design compromise in favor of conservation, no matter how small, is met with cries of “inferior!” or “unsafe!” I listened carefully to Lou at the meeting, because I take the perspective of the faculty and staff very seriously. Unfortunately, I found her comments (“the classrooms are very important”) rather lacking in specifics. I gathered that having the classroom pods opposite one another is viewed as ideal, rather than laid out in an L-shape. OK, but why? And how big a difference is it, really? Someone else said that having the library on the first floor is critical. “Critical”? I attended a Cabot school with the library on the second floor. Apparently, this is needed for community events. Wait, something else is important besides this “educational program” I keep hearing about? Community events can only happen on the first floor? I’m lost. Another comment was that the north side addition was “too big”. Well, it’s big because of the many requirements of the “educational program”! Should we ask the architects for a TARDIS?
To me, it is obvious why the cover page of the design presentation features an historic photo of the school (note the original windows) from the southeast. That is the school. If it is being preserved, that is what we are preserving. Cabot is the Humpty Dumpty school. When I was in sixth grade, sure, I found that kind of embarrassing. But now I see that that is what makes the school unique, distinctive. Why aren’t we doing things like Angier or Zervas did them? Because we’re Cabot! When I told my son about the vote to build the new gym right in front of the facade, he said “Because we can’t learn unless we cover up Humpty Dumpty!”
In the end, a having a great school is not about what building we have. Either plan represents a viable school design. A great school is about the teachers, the students and the community. It is my hope that maybe some of the Plan A supporters will reflect on how their tone of absolute certainty, suspicion of the committee’s motives, and dismissal of others’ views has detracted from that community.
I have seen both plans. What strikes me now is the fact that the present site was designed for a school of a very different era. Now we have a very modern idea of how schools should function. This site can’t possibly fulfill these needs. The new building is simply too large and the gym location is totally inappropriate. What bothers me is the rush to develop a suitable design for this very compromised site. I believe more time should be taken to properly design a more acceptable school.
Colleen-The CSBC/DRC has been working on this project for 2 years. How is that rushing?
Jane,
I dug into the timeline a little more as it seemed like the Project went back further. The CSBC/DRC started their work on the project 2 and a half years ago, but the project team started work on the Cabot Project in the Fall of 2012. Quite a lengthy process.
Can anyone describe what the relevant factors were in rejecting the new plan? Was it just not a good design [or better design]?
Or was it that “on time and on budget” would have been too severely compromised?
Jane, the design group may have taken 2 years which seems quite a long time. However, many in the community see major flaws in the design. It appears that a better solution can’t be explored fully because those in favor of the first design do not want to wait any longer.
There are multiple posts on multiple threads on Village 14 as well as on the list servs covering these topics. Please check out the other threads. All of your questions and complaints have been addressed there. I’m not sure any further explanation will cause you to understand the process. But here goes, briefly.
The placement of the gym on the north side with the other new building was studied over the years along with at least 20 designs. There were meetings, public comments and consultations with all of the stakeholders. After the lengthy process of refining the different proposals to create the best educational program and the best options for keeping the children safe during arrival and departure, the current proposal was unaminously approved by the CBSC on April 4 or 5.
Along the way there were many parts of the plans that were scrutinized and vigorously debated, such as taking down the old building, closing Parkview, using a portion of Cabot Park, the purchase of the adjacent property and the view of the old building. After the vote, the people who were disappointed in the placement of the new buildings and adamantly wanted them moved to have a better view from the park and Eastview continued to question the decision.
So even though a proposal had been approved, the process was paused and the designers were told to see if they could make the placement of the new buildings all on the north side, have a better educational program, be cost effective and keep the children safe. This 4 week delay caused many to worry that the MA deadline, the schedule of all the schools moving to Carr and the other schools in the pipeline would be impacted; it would affect more than Cabot when you look at the big picture. The mayor assured them that the deadlines would be met although now they will be moving out of Carr in September instead of January.
The best they could do was Plan B4 which was essentially a redo of a scheme that had been discarded and was rejected again at the June 2 meeting. It was determined that the current plan has a far better educational plan for more reasons that I’m going to go into, but they are listed elsewhere. In addition Plan B4 had a dangerous placement for the arrival and departure of children 5-12.
The new design was explored fully and although being on budget and on time are sctually good things, they were not the deciding factors. In the end, the view was not the deciding factor either; it was building a school that best met the highest priorities, educational function and children’s safety.
Colleen:
I appreciate you enjoy being a gadfly on posts like this, but I’m with Marti. Read the past two threads and you’ll get a great take on views of folks who are supportive of the original plan. The hundreds of folks who like the original plan. The school and CASP professionals who like the original plan. There are definitely folks who are not supportive, and they certainly had their day.
You state that the site isn’t appropriate as is for a modern school. Unless you are proposing to reduce the number of students, I’m not sure what your solution would be. Do you propose we tear down the historic building. That would be one approach. Otherwise I’m not sure what else you would suggest. More time for the new plan? To what end?
I understand the frustration with the gym placement. It certainly isn’t perfect. No plan for this site was going to be perfect if you want to keep the historic building. None. That isn’t anyone’s fault. As much as I rode Emily and Susan and the Committee, imperfect solutions generate conflict. Which imperfection do we minimize is the question.
Dan, one of the prior posters in the past thread had a good analysis of the differences. I can’t answer your question as to what aspect was more important, timing or design differences. Both in my book.
And while I’ve had my differences with Paul in the past, I’ve found his posts to be fair on this issue, and spot on. Communication in office hours is a minimum in my book. I must have talked to dozens of Cabot parents this past month. There were a lot of folks who agreed with Paul (and me) that the communication level was at a minimum. And the contrast between this and Austin Street or the charter commission is striking. How many posts on this blog alone have there been on those two issues by our elected officials?
Look, at this point I’m ready to move on from this. Nothing is perfect in construction or project management or design. Nothing. I’m hopeful we can minimize the effect of the gym on the historic building as the process moves forward. I’m hopeful that the school and the park can be stitched together in a way that makes us all proud and activates the park. I’m hopeful that I’ll be taking my kids to Cabot Park on the weekends like I now do with Angier.
And despite my being tough on our city councilors, I’m hopeful that they fight hard for the school in the council, push the historic commission, and get the project completed even if it isn’t the one they would have wanted. They have a tough job that I’d never want, and I recognize the unfairness of my giving them constant crap when I disagree with them and little praise when I agree.
I send out an email newsletter once a month, they are also posted to emilynorton.org (th0ugh I see the May one hasn’t been posted yet – I will have stern words with my assistant). I hold office hours the last Friday of the month from 9-10am at the Senior Center in Newtonville. I am also available by phone, text and email, though I have a day job so cannot always respond right away during the work week.
@Emily
You’re a dedicated elected official. I have no doubt.
I hope you’re able to hear the concerns on process raised by your community, we can all do better.
The last few months have been exhausting for all.
Time to heal and move on.
I suggest that everyone interested in the goings on in Ward 2, sign up for Emily’s e-mail list and monthly newsletter.
I do think that the reasoning and purpose of reviewing the alternate site plan could have been better explained. (The pause was passed with 7 votes in favor, all city employees and elected officials, 3 against, the principal and 2 community reps and 1 abstention, Susan Albright) How hard would it have been for Emily to explain that she didn’t like the placement of the gym and wanted to further explore alternates.
How hard would it have been to just say the mayor, some members of the city council and the CSBC decided to rethink the placement of the gym because many citizens wanted to see if it was possible to make that plan work. The reasoning seems to be that a 4 week review would provide, in addition to seeing if the alternate plan would work, due diligence and possibly proactively preempt more problems down the road and provide answers to the very comments above as well as to the historic commissions. The DRC had already studied a similar plan so much of the groundwork had been done.
In addition, it could have been easily explained to the Cabot community in an additional meeting, (or in your newsletter Emily, which I find quite helpful) the reasoning behind the pausing of the process and the assurance that the best educational plan would be the deciding factor along with keeping the time schedule on track which would have warded off some of the anxiety and frustration that led to speculation.
Yes, it’s “time to heal and move on,” as well as to learn from this experience that officials must keep the process open and transparent, to the next step in making Cabot School the next great school. Hopefully there will generally be more enthusiasm in the city council than expressed by Ted who said ” “Well, the CSBC voted unanimously to support the “Approved Plan.” So we are going to have to make it work.”
Marti,
On the pause vote the abstentions were Angela Pitter-Wright and myself, Margaret Albright. I know it’s confusing to have two Albrights. But I want to be clear on my views on this issue as they are far different from Susan’s.
And Colleen, the size of the site is a challenge and will be on other buildings going forward. The Cabot site is about 1.6 acres. Other schools are on equally as small sites.
Dan and Miranda, at several of our many school building committee meetings the architects explained their view of the design – using the new elements to highlight and set off the old building and to cut the massing of the addition by placing it around the site instead of all in one place.
Margaret Albright
WARNING: The following slightly hijacks this thread.
Since it’s been many a year since I had a student at Cabot, I’m not on any email lists or mailing lists, so I wanted to mention here that my young Granddaughter and I had another great time at the Cabot Fair on Saturday. What a nice job done by all. It’s not only that every year it keeps getting bigger, it’s that they understand that little things like a sprinkler set-up can be more fun than anything. Of special note are the parents and young adults running the simple games on the pavement. For hours. Under a hot sun. I must single out the nice woman running the bean bag tic-tac-toe game around noontime. We waited 15 minutes for our turn and she was constantly jumping up and down straightening the baskets and was so encouraging and helpful with every child. A really nice time and well-run event.
Margaret, I know you and other SC members have different ideas from Susan and I apologize for posting the wrong name. I didn’t look back at the minutes like I should have. I must have thinking about the April 5 vote.
Thanks for correcting me.
Marti, thank you.
I did vote for plan A on April 5 and again on June 2. I felt very strongly about breaking up the massing of the building as well as having community spaces on the first floor which allows the rest of the building to be closed off during community events.
I was also very concerned about site circulation and creating a site that was pedestrian friendly and promoted walking and biking. 75% of Cabot students live within a mile of the school and making it easy to walk and bike is something that was important in my view.
Margaret:
I’m glad you mentioned the architect’s strategy for the site. From a historic rehab standpoint, it was either mass the new buildings on the north end or balance the site out on both ends. I know some historic folks prefer the former, but many historic preservationists would lean towards the latter with clear demarkacation (sp?) lines between the new and the old elements. Go to downtown boston if you want some good examples. Atlantic Wharf downtown (formerly Russia Wharf) is an example.
It is highlights how important the upcoming work will be. Siting is just the beginning. Everything from window placement to landscaping makes a difference to how the site flows together. I’m hopeful we can work together to make the best of a situation with no perfect options.
And Mark, it is a bit of a squirrel comment, but a good one. The Cabot Fair is terrific, it was very crowded this year, and it goes to show how strong a PTO and school staff we have. Really had a great time with my family.
I’ll also note that folks were out in mass including those with petitions against Orr block. Between the school, Orr Block, and the very large Newtonville storage facility on Newtonville Ave, there is a bit too much going on these days in Newtonville…
Thank you Miranda for your comments! I agree!