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Schools request $1.465M in FY26 capital for safety upgrades; administration asks council to add Juniper Hill roof to an existing appropriation
Summary
The school department asked the finance subcommittee for $1.465 million in FY26 capital to fund building security and safety work and sought council approval to add Block/Juniper Hill to an existing $13.222M roof appropriation covering Brophy and Potter.
Framingham school administrators asked the finance subcommittee on March 11 to approve $1,465,000 in FY26 capital spending focused on safety upgrades across the district and to amend a previously approved roof appropriation so the district could prioritize repair work at Blocks/Juniper Hill.
The capital safety request includes:
- $750,000 for entryway mitigation (access controls, badge swipes, intercoms); - $225,000 for camera hardware, software and infrastructure (including coverage of the junior parking lot at the high school); - $150,000 for gate installations at multiple sites; and - other access-control work, including badge readers for difficult-to-access elevators.
"Because of the nature of the safety of our schools and, things like that, we did not include maps with, places where cameras are gonna go," a school official said, explaining why schematics were not included in public materials.
Separately, school staff asked the council to add Blocks/Juniper Hill to a previously approved roof appropriation that had been established for Brophy and Potter elementary schools. The administration said initial roof bids were significantly lower than earlier estimates and that updated roof scans showed Blocks/Juniper Hill had active water infiltration that should be prioritized this summer. The previously approved appropriation total cited in the presentation was $13,222,950; the administration said it believed all three roofs could be completed within that allocation.
School officials also said the Hemingway Middle School MSBA feasibility study was approved and packaged as a separate request; the presentation listed a $2,600,000 total for the Hemingway feasibility work and related items.
Councilors present moved to support favorable action on the request to add Blocks/Juniper Hill to the existing appropriation; the motion was seconded and the committee recorded the request as supported in the meeting.
