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Healy School cafetorium acoustic treatment identified as a priority; administration to explore options
Summary
Committee members requested acoustic treatments in the Arthur D. Healy School cafetorium to make the space less disruptive for students, particularly those with sensory needs; administration said the item is on the project list and will be considered for funding and scheduling.
Somerville officials discussed installing acoustic treatment—often described in the meeting as acoustic tiles rather than full soundproofing—in the Arthur D. Healy School cafetorium at the June 10 joint meeting.
School committee chair Liran Batone said parents, teachers and PTAs have requested treatments for years to reduce noise in the concrete cafetorium, which can be difficult for students with sensory issues. "When you pack a ton of kids into a concrete box . . . some of our students, especially those with sensory issues, find that space to be very difficult to be in," Batone said.
Yasmin Radassi, legislative liaison in the mayor’s office, said the September school-year walk-throughs had not flagged the cafetorium as a top three priority that year, but the administration will route a new request through normal channels to evaluate scope and cost.
Richard Raich, director of IAM, clarified the preferred term is "acoustic treatment" rather than "soundproofing," describing treatments already installed in other schools as effective and saying the city will assess near-term budget capacity. "It's a little late to look at this fiscal year," Raich said, "but, as we're planning out projects for the summer, we'll see what we can do within our existing building budgets." He noted similar work last summer produced clear benefits at Edgerly.
School committee members said the treatment appeared previously in the Healy's 2021 school improvement plan and urged the administration to prioritize the project where possible. The committee marked the Healy cafetorium item "work complete" for the meeting while asking administration to follow up on cost and scheduling.
No formal appropriation was approved at the June 10 meeting; the administration said it will explore whether the project can fit into summer or near-term building budgets and return with details if needed.
