Zervas School will be closing next week for extensive renovations, with students temporarily relocating to Carr School starting in January. Share your thoughts and memories here.
Zervas School open thread
by Village 14 | Dec 15, 2015 | Newton | 33 comments
The Angier school process has seemingly gone quite well. Let’s hope that can be so for Zervas too!
Can someone refresh my memory regarding how many homes are being torn down? Is it 2 or 3?
I agree with Dan regarding Angier, and I’ll be very happy if I can eat my words if Cabot starts on time.
My recollection is it turned out to be three.
Three. There is a fourth coming down on the corner of Beethoven and Beacon across from Zervas, but that is just a private individual putting up a new abode.
If those homes or that land were converted into affordable housing, how many teachers and their families could live in Newton rather than have to drive to Newton?
The possibility of turning those properties into affordable housing for teachers was never on the table. If the city didn’t purchase them, they’d have been sold on the open market and we’d have 3 more McMansions in the neighborhood. That we do not need.
Nathan – We should have coffee. 🙂
I have many thoughts about Zervas, where my children were educated and where we were first introduced to Newton public schools.
On a very personal note it is hard to see this building come down. The building has so many issues but it is filled with memories for us and it is absolutely home. I still feel very much a part of the community as I have been tutoring math there since my (now) 11th grader graduated. Many of us have mourned the loss of this small building and small community and it saddens me as well. As a parent it is all I know so it is the “right size” for an elementary school….
The funny thing is that parent friends of mine from Mason-Rice and Bowen insist that their schools, with 50% higher enrollment than the current Zervas, are the right size for an elementary school. This reaction heartens me – I expect that the experience for future Zervas families will be different from mine once the school is enlarged, but it may be just as warm and rich.
As a member of the Newton community I am excited to see our second elementary school rebuild get started. The Angier process has been exceptional and it serves as an example of how good the Zervas project can be. I toured the new 465-student Angier building last week as it was receiving its finishing touches. Although it will be one of our largest schools it is well thought-out, well-proportioned and well designed. It is spacious yet intimate, and the design features that make this so are part of the Zervas plan as well.
As a school committee member working hard for the past 4 years on our elementary school projects, I appreciate what Zervas represents – a fix of an old, neglected, deteriorated, and obsolete educational facility into a modern, efficient, educationally appropriate space. Further, it represents a key component of Newton’s enrollment growth response. It is ideally located to help relieve overcrowding at Mason-Rice, Bowen, and Countryside, and may help other schools as well. As the recently-purchased Aquinas School is the most important piece of the north-side elementary narrative, Zervas is the most important south-side piece.
Fig, three houses have been taken along Beacon Street to expand the Zervas site. Nathan, providing teacher housing next to Zervas is an interesting idea. Although two counterpoints immediately come to mind – the first, and I know that there are those who don’t agree with me on this point, is that it is extremely rare for us to have the opportunity to expand any of our very crowded elementary school sites. We seized this moment, as one property was recently foreclosed upon and was bank-owned, one property was being vacated by a couple with a new house elsewhere, and one property was sold to the City by a gracious senior. Even as parking these three properties represent open space that can readily be repurposed into activity fields as our transportation and parking paradigms evolve. The second counterpoint – Ask a teacher whether they need to get far away from their building after work, and get back to me!
Back to Angier: Stay tuned – there will be a community open house sometime in January and the entire Newton community is welcome to tour. This is the first of many big investments in our elementary schools and you should all come and see what you have purchased.
— Steve
Nathan (and I’m sure I’ll hear from Jane),
Can we cease this canard that teachers are the unfairly downtrodden saints of our culture? Most families have to reach to live in Newton. Teachers are no different, in fact they’re demographic is pretty much Newton’s demographic.
The average teacher makes $76,000. We live in a double income world; Household salary (two average salaried teachers) make $152,000. The average household income in Newton is $167,000. A difference of $15,000. That teacher salary does not include other income (summer). The numbers are too close to draw the distinction. If you want a downtrodden group in need of Affordable Housing, is it really Newton teachers?
Bring it on Jane…
Maybe Ted can correct me (or jane), but I do not think you can label affordable housing for a particular group of people. Everyone qualified to be in affordable housing has an equal shot st the housing. I could be wrong.
Terry, I’ll nibble on that one. I don’t have to think of our teachers as downtrodden to appreciate the point Nathan makes. Take out the word “affordable” and just think of it as putting worker’s houses near their jobs. This makes for less traffic, greater safety for pedestrians and bikers, less parking need at the workplace, less auto emissions, and more greenspace – all things we aspire to advance as a community.
But I’d consider the Beacon Street properties as being more valuable to the community now as parking, gardens, and pathways, with the possibility of being repurposed as school needs change.
Where else might resident teachers live if not at the school site or at nearby single-family homes? How about at the St. Philip Neri development? 4/10 mile to the west is Angier and 4/10 mile to the east is Zervas. Depending upon the weather, their physical needs, or what they must bring to school some teachers will still choose to drive. But others may be happy walking while bringing their books, laptop, and other materials and supplies in a two-wheeled cart. That would advance the goals stated above.
Steve, its not for everyone for sure, but I think there would be some teachers who would jump at the chance for a 1 minute commute by foot. And there is no more peaceful place than Zervas playground after hours.
Jane, housing was not on the table but a parking lot was on the table. I’m saying that what we put on the table says alot about our priorities. And yes, let’s get coffee!
Terry, I won’t argue your point on salaries, but teachers are role models for our youngest kids and it breaks my heart that our children learn from their earliest ages that teachers only drive. But back to your point, I have taken a beating suggesting that the 0.3 mile walk from the weekday-empty Cold Spring Park parking lot to Zervas would work for teachers.
Steve, I like what I’m hearing from you on what may be possible going forward.
Terry – You’re absolutely correct that teachers can’t afford to buy a house in Newton and haven’t been able to for decades. That’s a given. At issue is what we lose when teachers have to travel 45 minutes to Newton to teach when they can get the same job closer to home at about the same pay.
We lose teachers and/or teacher time spent in Newton. Most schools have evening and weekend events that contribute to building community, thus limiting their participation in these events. If teachers gage when they have to leave school by their ability to pick up children at a day care center 45 minutes away (or an hour and a half away if they leave after 3:45), then there’s a loss to the community. These are just two examples of unintended losses when staff and teachers live a significant distance from Newton. If that’s okay with you, which it appears it is, then there’s nothing more to discuss.
Jane,
I hear what you are saying but how are teachers different than any other members of the community? There are many professions that can’t afford to purchase homes in Newton, including social workers, nurses, fire fighters, ministers, youth advisors, police officers, etc. And they also engage in the community.
Newton tore down three homes that were NOT McMansions. . . . . and might have been in reach for some teachers, nurses, fire fighters, ministers and other people that would benefit from living closer to their jobs. Many of us struggle to afford to live in Newton, who are not teachers, and we made the sacrifice to live in small homes in a great community. While Newton continues to allow tear downs of small homes, we lose out on the diversity of housing that it allows. We allow more higher paid professionals to live in Newton and we drive out all non high paying professionals, and not just teachers, who add to the community.
If we are talking about affordable housing here in Newton as being available at 80% of market, those units are hardly accessible to the “downtrodden.”
For most young adults starting out, Newton is probably just not within their short term sights. It wasn’t when I was in that mode [just a few years ago!] But we saw that as the reality,we rented here first, bought a home out in Natick, developed our respective careers and moved back to Newton when we were ready financially. Unless one is born with a silver spoon, that is the likely track. I’m not sure there is anything wrong with that. I’m not a big fan of trying to socially engineer the city.
I’m also not a fan of 40b, but realistically we’d not be having any discussion of affordable housing here if not for its presence.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am happily married to the best public school teacher in the world, who started her teaching career in Newton and has been teaching for almost 20 years. I am obviously not opposed to parking for teachers that is near schools, but I voted against acquiring those houses to build a parking lot. I think neighborhood schools should have onstreet parking as well as parking lots that are available for teachers, staff and parents. But I did vote to fund the school and after visiting Angier last week with Steve Siegel and others, I am optimistic that the new Zervas will be every bit as wonderful for new generations of parents and students.
Relying solely on average salaries is deceiving. You can easily drown in the middle of a lake that averages just 18 inches deep. But even two teachers making the average salary cannot afford a market rate single family house in Newton. Not even close. For example, Newton acquired those three homes next to Zervas for an average of $800,000, just so it could tear them down and lay down some asphalt. On the private market, those houses were destined to become multi-million dollar McMansions.
Yes, we could create housing for teachers (and firefighters and police officers) in Newton, although it may not be countable in the SHI for Chapter 40B purposes. In fact, that would be fine with me. We also need to create housing affordable to the middle class if we want to promote diversity in our city. That would also not count in the SHI and would likewise be fine with me.
I have said it before and I will say it again. The best way to reach the goal of creating housing that is affordable for low to moderate and middle income residents is to allow more multi-family housing through zoning reform. That means greater density, especially in transit-oriented areas and village centers, which goes over like a lead balloon in a community like Newton that is fast becoming as exclusionary as other communities like Lexington, Weston and Wellesley. That is too bad. And it is precisely why we have Chapter 40B.
I should have said it is precisely why we NEED Chapter 40B.
Chapter 40B seems to me to create some housing for low income earners and higher income earners. It doesn’t do anything for middle income earners. So I agree that Newton is becoming a bastion for the wealthy with just enough low income housing to help meet the threshold. The middle income earners mentioned above don’t qualify for most affordable housing and can’t aford the market rate. So mostly purchasing housing in Newton will remain as Dan suggests.
Jane, I didn’t draw the same conclusion as you when reading Terry’s post. He didn’t say he thought it was right for teachers to not live in the community. IMO, he said that some teacher’s make a middle income salary and aren’t downtrodden. Of course using averages in this case is a distortion because of a change in salary steps a few years ago so new teachers stay at a lower salary longer than they used to leading to there being long-time teachers making a high salary in the NPS while their newer counterparts won’t.
Steve made a good point about parents and students forming a relationship with the school they are associated with, regardless of size. Teacher’s too. I have a family member who taught at Zervas, who when visiting to say good bye became tearful even while being happy there would be a new, larger Zervas. Change is hard even when it’s for the best.
I don’t think teachers are downtrodden and or deserve anything that other people in the same income bracket have. They just can’t afford to live anywhere near Newton and that has some unintended consequences for Newton students and their families, two of which I mentioned. If it’s okay with the community, then fine. But IMHO, if elementary teachers have to lug bulky bags of work home in order to do the best by Newton kids because staying late is impossible, the least the community can do is provide reasonable parking. My point is that Newton students and families benefit from having teachers and staff live locally.
I was very clear during this debate last year that I don’t believe that the same standard need apply to high school teachers. However, it’s important to keep in mind that it was the city decided that parking for all teachers was an essential component of the renovated/expanded NSHS and new NNHS. No one has been able to explain why providing parking is so important for HS teachers who have light loads to carry home but not for elementary teachers who frequently have heavy loads.
Newton Mom – If those houses had been put on the open market, the likelihood of them being torn down and replaced by McMansions was very high.
Smaller schools vs. larger schools have never been the debate for me, nor the physical plant. I believe it is all about the teachers. The difference between a dedicated teacher and one going through the motions is night and day, and it shows in the kids. To the extent the physical building distracts from the teaching (too cold/too hot/no bathrooms/ no cafeteria/no gym) it does matter, but the bedrock is the quality and fit of the teachers in the school. So while it is tough to increase in size, I really do believer Zervas will be just fine.
Where size does matter some is that larger schools pull from a larger orbit of homes, which means that you can’t just walk to a friend’s house. But our schools are still very local for most (not for all).
As for the affordable housing argument, I certainly appreciate the issues with tearing down modest size homes. I guess the argument is that if the city was going to spend money to acquire them, they could have spent similar money to acquire and keep them affordable. I find that unlikely from the condition of several of the homes, and I think you can get more bang for your affordable buck by increasing density and not rebuilding homes in a state of disrepair.
“It was the city that decided”.
“My main point is that having teachers…”
Most people in Newton work outside of Newton. Should Boston build better housing so workers from Newton can afford to live in Boston? Ted HM’s office is in Wellesley. Should Wellesley build affordable housing so Ted does not have to commute from crummy Newton?
Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking everyone who is a teacher wants to live in Newton. If I were a single teacher, I would rather live in Boston. I know a few families with an NPS-teacher-spouse who do not live in Newton with well over $300K in annual income. Where does David Fleishman live? Should we build affordable housing for him?
The idea of affordable housing in inherently arbitrary and unfair. No one likes to admit it. This application is worse than usual. We are unwilling to pay high performing teachers more than low performing teachers, yet some of us want to throw teachers in a lottery and randomly give some a benefit worth tens of thousand of tax-free dollars, while giving nothing to the lottery losers?
Jeffrey – No one is advocating for teachers to be in a housing lottery. No one. It’s not going to happen so it’s just one of those blog discussions that’s going nowhere. Frankly, I sort of wish the discussion would go away and the community would accept the changes that come with a staff that lives quite far away from Newton. It would be more helpful to teachers if the community accepted that most teachers can’t attend evening and weekend events (concerts, plays, games, fairs, picnics, special events, school council meetings) and didn’t feel pressured to do so.
Fig – The quality of the building really does make a difference and can be a huge distraction from the teaching and learning process. In January, we’ll have an opportunity to see what an excellent elementary school facility looks like when Angier opens up. I hope Newton residents visit the new building, then visit Cabot to see the difference. The difference has nothing to do with the heating system. I can put on a coat when it’s too cold (which I do even in the new NNHS). I can dress in layers to accommodate the varying temperatures over the course of a day. No big deal.
After my kids were out of Cabot, I considered transferring to a walkable (got that Adam?) school. Then I walked around the building looking at it though another lens – my teacher lens – and I returned to Burr where I had much larger classroom, didn’t have to put up with cleaning desks after lunch, and had at least some spaces for students to meet in a small group setting. Cabot had none of that and that was worth a lot to me.
Jane,
First, as an elementary school parent there aren’t that many evening programs – parent open house, and a concert or two (where I don’t expect all teachers to attend, just the music teacher and the classroom teachers of that grade). I find that I am asked as a parent to attend pizza parties, fundraisers, volunteer for classroom parties, give money for the parties, classroom supplies and other things. I also work full time (not in Newton), so by the time I rush home, I really don’t want to eat pizza on a playground either (gasp). Besides the fifth grade concert and curriculum night, I don’t expect the teachers to attend the science fair (that the PTO sponsors) and the spelling bee (that the PTO sponsors). If the teachers want to come, great, but I don’t expect the teachers to attend the PTO sponsored events, unless their child is at the school. Of course, I might be in the minority, but after a long day at work, pulling myself to attend as a parent is hard enough!
I also agree with you about the quality of the school. I can tell you that the days that the sump pump hose was running through my son’s classroom at Angier were some of the days he was MOST distracted. He never owned a sweater since every classroom was 80 degrees, even in the bitter cold. And the hallway used as a cafeteria will NOT be missed! As a kid it was tough, and I can’t imagine teaching in a classroom daily that was tropical when there was 2 feet of snow outside. Teachers did it year in and year out! The elementary kids left six years later, but the teachers were still there.
Affordable housing is not inherently unfair. It opens doors to racial, ethnic, social and economic diversity in every community. Redlining, a racist government housing policy to exclude minority groups from living in the suburbs, was and is inherently unfair. It closes the door to diversity. I am all too aware that some people would like Newton to be a gated community where money is the key to get in and keep those who cannot afford it out. I am not one of those people.
Zervas and Angier need bike lanes and good bike parking so at least our kids have options.
Newton Mom. Thank you. It could be that the community is adjusting to the new reality. That’s progress. But there continues to be an expectation that elementary teachers will attend events. Any one family doesn’t have many family events, but over the course of the year, the school has a good number and teachers are often called upon to help out colleagues. Oddly, I’ve never attended an evening event as a HS teacher and feel no pressure to do so.
Don’t mean to date myself but I remember when teachers were expected to donate to school fundraisers so yes, we’ve made progress.
Jane, I don’t think we disagree. I said: “To the extent the physical building distracts from the teaching (too cold/too hot/no bathrooms/ no cafeteria/no gym) it does matter”. I just think teachers matter way more. Cabot’s physical plant is pretty bad and I’m very happy to have a new school coming soon, even if my kids won’t get to take advantage of most of it. But thus far the Cabot teachers have largely been terrific and very caring, and when I think of the school (and when my kids think of the school) they think of their teachers and the classroom. I do agree the physical plant being adequate helps to maximize learning, but I also have faith that good teachers can get beyond that. I’d rather have them not have to of course.
I’m VERY glad that the blacktop at Cabot will now be connected to the fields. Folks who don’t have kids at Cabot don’t realize how dangerous the current set-up is. Kudos to the teachers and the CASP folks that something really bad hasn’t happened with that set-up.
Nathan:
I agree on the bike racks. Cabot’s bike racks are overflowing.
Jane, not sure I got your reference. I think walkable schools are essential — for students. Students (generally) do live in the school district, and while there are notable exceptions, more as time goes on, it’s still true that most are within a safe walking distance. While staff may sometimes secure a job at a school within walking distance, it’s highly unlikely and not going to lead to any meaningful reduction in traffic or parking (and Steve Siegel cites an excellent point that staff may wish to have a bit of breathing room where they live)
The point I was hammering on a different thread, regarding parking, was whether it ought to be provided in its entirety on site, as I thought you were suggesting, at great expense to the taxpayer and school programming.
…and just to be clear, I eventually came to respect Steve’s point that the property acquisitions were about the rare opportunity to enlarge the site. I like the thought that some of that parking could be repurposed one day.
Adam – At the time I lived within walking distance of Cabot and that was the reason why I looked into the idea of transferring. Should have put a winky thing on that comment.
The city was adamant that high school staff – in its entirety – be provided with parking on site. To be clear, it wasn’t my suggestion – it was done at the city’s insistence. I just want to know why the standards are different for elementary school teachers. I’ve asked the question multiple times and no one’s been willing to provide an answer.
I agree with Fig that connecting the blacktop and the fields at Cabot is essential and removes what is most likely dangerous school site situation in the city.