New Hannigan School To Feature 20-26 Student Classrooms, Family Learning Center

The closed New Bedford school who's roof collapsed in 2006 could soon become the city's best.

On Thursday, the School Committee voted to send plans for a rebuilt Hannigan Elementary School to the Massachusetts School Building Authority on Jun 11 for approval.

If the budget and plans are approved by city and MSBA, officials say the new school is expected to open in September 2017.

The total estimated cost for the project is $36.7 million dollars. According to the design team, the MSBA will cover $22.8 million, leaving New Bedford to pay about $14 million.

Architect, Peter Turowski, said the old school will be demolished and rebuilt with modern features. The Family Learning Center is one of the main additions to Hannigan, which Turowski said is important.

Turowski expects classroom sizes for lower grades to be around 20 students per class and 26 per class for higher grades. The building is designed to hold 400 kindergarten to 5th grade students, along with an additional 20 for pre-K classes.

"A lot of these parents of the students there don't have formal educations, or limited formal educations themselves, so engaging them early in the education of the children is really critical," he said.

Superintendent Pia Durkin believes the 21st-century building will help make students "super-learners" that will also help the school district reach it's reform goals in the future.

She said, "A new school sends an incredibly powerful message to children that we care about them, we invest in them, and we only want the best for them."