Return to Headlines
Fuller Middle School - MSBA Model School Program
Several constituents have asked me about the MSBA Model School Program (a.k.a. the “school in a box”) and specifically asked why we are not participating in it for the Fuller Middle School project. For those unfamiliar with the Model School program, in the words of the MSBA “the Model School Program seeks to effectively adapt and re-use the design of successful, recently constructed Pre-K through 12th grade schools.”
After some discussion with members of the School Building Committee (since I was not involved when this effort started) here’s what I found:
- The original MSBA Model School program started in 2008 and invitations to the program were suspended in 2012. The original MSBA Model School program offered an additional 5% reimbursement for participating Districts. Natick High School was constructed under the original MSBA Model School program.
- MSBA re-commenced a new MSBA Model School program in 2016 but the additional 5% reimbursement was discontinued. The Kennedy Middle School in Natick is not in the new MSBA Model School program.
- The new MSBA Model School program is not applicable to the Fuller Middle School project. There are three Middle School models to choose from: the Quinn Middle School (Hudson), the Sherwood Middle School (Shrewsbury) and the Thurgood Marshall Middle School (Lynn).
- The Quinn Middle School, a grades 5-7 middle school with a design enrollment of 715 students, is not applicable to the Fuller Middle School since the architectural firm for this model is no longer in business and this model has been removed from the program.
- The Sherwood Middle School, a grades 5-6 middle school with a design enrollment of 900 students, is not applicable to the Fuller Middle School since it has a design enrollment that is significantly larger than the Fuller Middle School. The MSBA sets the scalable range for each model school to be 20% higher or lower than the original model design. In this case, the Fuller Middle School design enrollment of 630 students falls outside this range. Further, the grades 5-6 grade configuration does not align with Fuller’s 6-8 grades. Lastly, the site constraints and configuration of the Fuller site do not lend itself to the footprint of this model.
- The Thurgood Marshall Middle School, a grades 6-8 middle school with a design enrollment of 1,100 students, is likewise not applicable to the Fuller Middle School since it has a design enrollment that is significantly larger than the Fuller Middle School.
For more information or to submit questions to the team, check out www.fullerbuildingproject.com where you can find FAQ documents, all previous presentations and meeting materials, and a link for submitting feedback or questions.
