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Superintendent, commenters press reuse of former Everett High School to ease K–8 overcrowding
Summary
Speakers at the Everett School Committee meeting urged converting the old Everett High School into a 7–8 middle school to relieve overcrowding in K–8 schools; Superintendent Bill Hart said the City Council recently approved $500,000 for design work toward that reuse.
Commenters and district leaders told the Everett School Committee on April 29 that overcrowding in K–8 schools is forcing instructional uses into stairwells, hallways and former library spaces and that converting the former Everett High School into a dedicated seventh–eighth grade building would immediately relieve pressure across the district.
The superintendent said the City Council took a first fiscal step this week by approving $500,000 from the capital improvement stabilization fund to pay for design services and related costs to study reuse of the former high school on Broadway.
Why it matters: Committee members and district leaders said classroom space shortages are changing how and where teaching happens—library spaces repurposed, lunch periods elongated and performance areas used for therapeutic services—and that a middle school in the old high school could reduce those immediate operational strains.
At the meeting a public commenter who submitted a video recording described daily conditions inside Everett Public Schools: “We use stairwells and hallways for teaching and learning. These spaces are used every single day. They are small, they lack privacy, and are prone to distraction.” The commenter said libraries have been “transformed into classrooms” and that the district should “commit to converting the former Everett High School into a seventh and eighth grade middle school.”
Superintendent Bill Hart told the committee he had shared the same video with city councilors and that the council’s 10–0 vote to appropriate $500,000 is “a small but meaningful step” toward converting large parts of the old building for grades 7–8. Hart said the appropriation funds design services and “related ancillary costs associated with the reuse of the old Everett High School.”
Hart and other speakers emphasized the appropriation is an early step: additional approvals, design decisions, and funding sources will be needed before construction or a formal conversion could occur. Hart described the proposal as “still miles away,” but called the council vote a positive first move.
No formal school committee vote on conversion took place at the April 29 meeting. The committee heard the public comment and the superintendent’s update and agreed to continue district work on the proposal.
The superintendent said he would circulate the video clip used to illustrate overcrowding to committee members and that district staff will continue outreach and planning as the council and district consider next steps.
