The School Building Committee meets with Fontaine Brothers Inc. and Skanska to discuss demolition and the spring move.
Photo credit: ELCAT01028
EAST LONGMEADOW — Portions of the current East Longmeadow High School are being prepared to come down as the new the School Department prepares to open the new building for the 2026-27 school year.
The East Longmeadow School Building Committee met on March 19 to discuss updates with the project, such as the new press box installation, demolition of the school annex and the spring move in.
Construction Manager Mark Hogan from Fontaine Brothers Inc. ran the committee through the process of demolishing the building.
As of the previous meeting on Feb. 25, the financial status of the project remained in good state, with $91,471,408 being submitted to the Massachusetts School Building Authority out of the $97,336,034 invoiced. The town has been reimbursed $42,246,905 and project contingencies are monitored regularly to ensure the budget remains in good shape.
The annex is set to be demolished earlier than the rest of the building and includes things like the graphics classroom, the committee meeting room, student support services and the East Longmeadow Cable Access TV office and studio. This will occur late April or early May.
That part of the building is going to be sealed off with power, gas, water and sewer disconnected before demolition. Abatement, which is the removal of any hazardous materials before demolition, will be done while the students aren’t at the school during the April break.
“We’ll do all the abatement when no one’s here and off time, we’ll have a parting wall,” Hogan said. “We’ll try to do as much, if not all, during the week … we’ll take care of that when no one’s here that week and then we’ll look at, talking with you before we actually start the demo, what that’ll look like.”
The plan is to demolish when students aren’t in school, but Hogan said that could still change. During the process, the metal, brick, foundation are all separated and the building will be demolished towards the field and away from the part of the building not being taken down.
“We actually try to do a disconnection when no one’s here,” Hogan said. “Once that’s disconnected, it’ll be pulled away. There will be no problems.”
There was a question about the painted art bricks in the graphics classroom and if it was possible to save them, which is unlikely because of the feasibility, scheduling and cost implications. The bricks will be photographed and displayed on a monitor in the new building. Alumni will also have the chance before demolition to go in and take a picture with their brick during the April 11 open house.
For the spring move, money is already allocated in the budget and Skanska is recommending Chicopee’s Pioneer Moving through the six proposals received. The school move lease agreement for the annex is approved for the Cartamundi site, which has enough space for the things designated for temporary storage.
