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topicnews · August 31, 2024

Brockton’s Goddard School needs an elevator for the adult education center

Brockton’s Goddard School needs an elevator for the adult education center

When Brockton’s Adult Learning Center and Community Schools programs began moving into their new home at the Goddard School on August 1, the old building needed some repairs. Although most of those repairs have already been made, one major obstacle remains: The building has no elevator.

In May, the Brockton School Committee approved a list of pre-school construction projects that would move the ALC and community schools to the Goddard. At that point, district officials knew the aging facility needed extensive renovations, including adding an exterior elevator to make the school fully handicap accessible.

On Tuesday, deputy operations manager James Cobbs said no progress had been made on the elevator.

“We had the architect take a look at it and put together a cost estimate. It’s going to be about $400,000,” Cobbs said. “No budget has been approved for it yet.”

The price is about $100,000 more than what Cobbs estimated when he approved construction in May, about $300,000. Cobbs said a request for proposals (RFP) would have to be sent out to purchase the elevator.

Programme for implementing adjustments

Soraya de Barros, director of the Community Schools program, said Friday they would make the necessary adjustments to ensure programs are accessible to all students while they wait for an elevator to be installed.

“The safety and accessibility of our students is indeed our highest priority,” said Soraya de Barros, Community Schools Program Director. “Although the elevator is not yet operational, we have proactively planned to ensure that all students have the necessary access to our programs, and we are committed to making any adjustments necessary to ensure that all students can fully participate.”

De Barros added that the first floor of the building has five “fully accessible” classrooms, as well as handicapped-accessible bathrooms. The building also has a ramp for the disabled.

School board members disappointed

Because the Goddard School does not have an elevator, students with disabilities or students who cannot climb stairs will have a very difficult time fully accessing the Adult Learning Center, which was relocated to the second floor of the Goddard School this summer.

At Tuesday’s school board meeting, several members expressed disappointment and dismay that the elevator was not yet available.

“We assumed that they would move there and be able to manage their daily lives and classes without disruption and difficulties. That’s what happens when you change things and expect them to go in a certain direction and then everything goes completely wrong,” said school board member Ana Oliver at Tuesday’s meeting. “And now we’re telling people to adjust their lives because we were irresponsible and took this step, and now we’re saying, ‘Sorry, that’s not possible, forget it.'”

Before the ALC and Community Schools moved into the Goddard, the building housed SUBURA’s community programs. SUBURA has since been relocated to make room for the ALC’s new programs and daycare.

School Board member Jorge Vega spoke out against the facility transfers when they were first discussed in May, when Cobbs served as the district’s deputy superintendent.

“We made the decision that we were going to move our potentially oldest students into a building that we knew the roof wasn’t suitable and that there wasn’t going to be an elevator,” Vega said. “And we had no plan at all for how we were going to put that elevator in. On behalf of the people who call me, that’s appalling.”

“We’ve been through a lot of moves over the last few years,” said school board member Joyce Asack. “I think we had no choice in this one, and many of us weren’t happy with it. But we were also led to believe that everything would be OK in September, in a building that we closed years ago.”

SCHOOL PROGRAM COVERS: Which Brockton schools are moving to which building in 2024-25?

Other issues have been resolved

A group of committee members visited the Goddard School on August 2 as the programs moved into their new space. Months earlier, many members of the school committee had expressed concern about the condition of the building.

The roof of the Goddard School, a building more than 100 years old, had multiple leaks, phone lines and electrical outlets were down, the downstairs bathroom didn’t work and air quality hadn’t been measured in a long time, school district officials said.

With only a few days left until the start of the new school year, the ALC and Community Schools have almost completed their moves and most repairs have been made, although the building still does not have an elevator.

Air quality at Goddard has also been “thoroughly tested,” de Barros said, and Cobbs said test results are comparable to schools across the district.

Leaky roof needs to be replaced for $1.7 million

Kenneth Thompson, Brockton Public Schools’ director of facilities, said the Goddard School’s slate roof had several leaks but had been repaired. Cobbs and Thompson both said the roof would likely need to be replaced with a copper roof, which would cost the district about $1.7 million.

“It’s a slate roof and sometimes it’s awfully hard to find the leaks. It leaks in one place and spreads and you think it’s somewhere else,” Thompson said. “So we look for it.”

Programs get used to new location

de Barros, director of the community schools program, told The Enterprise on Wednesday that some doors still need to be locked and some phones and intercoms need to be installed, but for the most part, her program is ready for the new year.

“The facility team has done wonders to make sure everything is up and running again,” said de Barros. “Most of it, I would say 90 percent, is done.”

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