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Somerville officials outline emergency swing-space plan and start Cummings building evaluation
Summary
City and school officials said a continuity-of-operations plan is underway for displaced students, with the TAB building identified as an initial swing space and an architecture firm contracted to evaluate the Cummings building for longer-term suitability.
Somerville committee Chair Jesse Klingen and school and city officials reported that a continuity-of-operations (COOP) process to identify temporary space for displaced students is underway and that the TAB facility would be the first, short-term option if a school becomes unusable.
William Fisher, director of the Office of Emergency Management in Somerville, told the joint school buildings and facilities committee that the city and Somerville Public Schools began the planning process in October and now meet weekly to identify risks, required personnel and physical resources, and candidate alternative facilities. "We will be shortly moving into looking at alternative facilities and continuity options," Fisher said, adding the effort includes drafting, exercising and refining a formal plan.
Separately, Director Gregor Raish outlined work on the Cummings building (the School Street wing) that began with upgrades for warming-center use but now includes a contract amendment with architecture firm Bayer Blinder Belle to produce a conceptual scope of work and planning-level cost estimates. Capital Projects director Ralph Henry said the firm will bring building-envelope, MEP and ADA specialists and that the evaluation will likely take about three months to assemble a draft report.
Raish emphasized that some of the warming-center improvements (fire alarms, restrooms, heating capacity) also move the city toward having usable space that could free up capacity elsewhere, but that returning the Cummings to full educational use would likely require significant additional work. "There are a number of deficiencies in the building from ADA to electric and plumbing code," Raish said. Henry added that staff expect the conceptual costs to be fairly high.
Chair Klingen and school-committee members said they will track the consultant's report once available and plan follow-up in spring 2026. The committee left the item in committee for future consideration when the evaluation is complete.
