The creative team for the new Revere High School building has begun meeting to establish plans for the new high school.
The team, comprised of the architects, high school teachers, administrators, district board members, and various community members, began having meetings at the end of March.

Jeff Fry, head of the social studies department and part of the creative team, discussed the initial planning in the meetings. He mentioned that the group discussed tentative plans for the gymnasiums, auditorium, media center, and classroom spaces.

“We [have been] laying out the plan for what we think the new high school should have. We haven’t talked about what it should look like, but we have talked about big things like spaces. We know there is a finite amount of space that we can work with, but right now we have just been saying, ideally, this is what we want,” Fry said.

Superintendent Matthew Montgomery asked each member in attendance at the first meeting to bring in an object that represented what they want to see in the new building. Fry brought in two objects with different meanings.

“I brought a 40 year old Revere pennant and that represented the history of the school. Then I brought in the ‘I’m an ally, this is a safe space’ sign to represent that the new building needs to be a safe place for every student from a physical safety standpoint, and also a place where all kids can feel that they’re cared for. One representing the past, and one representing current and future needs,” Fry said.

Phil King, Revere High School principal, also commented on what he brought to the meeting.

“I brought a ball made of rubber bands. All these people have their different ideas, talents, and things that they’re good at. I explained that as a building, we have to emphasize that there are people that are going to be different, but they all need to work together. I demonstrated it this way; if you take one rubber band off, this is one person. If you try to bounce it, it doesn’t bounce very well. But as a unit, we can put this all together and it does what it’s supposed to do. We can be resilient and bounce together,” King said.

King mentioned that he would like to see the environment of a new school affect students’ learning.

“[The new school] will have a more relaxing atmosphere; kids will be more comfortable in their surroundings, and with the new building comes maybe a different attitude towards learning. It’s not always a teacher telling you what to do, it’s rather a teacher giving you ideas and then the student being able to explore and determine what is important in that area and really personalize their learning,” King said.

Phil Heyn, high school history teacher and Revere alumnus of 1996, commented on the last time the current building received an addition.

“[As part of] the addition in 1995 . . . they added the library, the science wing, and Ms. Colantone’s graphics room. I actually took photography with Ms. Colantone, and [before the addition] they put us in what is currently the weight room,” Heyn said.

The committee has scheduled more meetings over the next several months for planning and discussing the new building. Construction will begin in Spring 2018.