Blackstone‑Millville advances in MSBA process as community shapes school vision

Jason DeFalcone, superintendent, opened the community workshop for the Blackstone‑Millville school feasibility study and said the project is a long, community-led process that will move slowly rather than produce sudden changes.

"Blackstone Millville was notified that they had been selected to move forward," said Greg Smalley of DRA Architects, referring to the district’s inclusion in the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) pipeline. Smalley said selection is a major early milestone and described a multi-module MSBA process: Module 1 (funding the study), Module 2 (team formation), Module 3 (developing an educational program), Module 4 (preferred schematic), and Module 5 (funding the construction).

The design team said the district has asked the MSBA to evaluate several enrollment and grade-span options: a 9–12 school for 365 students; 8–12 for 470; 7–12 for 580; or 6–12 for 680. "We're looking at whether to renovate, renovate plus add, or do new construction for each of those options," Smalley said. The team estimated a multi-year timeline that, from earlier work beginning in 2020, could lead to a new or renovated building opening as early as August 2029 if the district proceeds through design and funding on schedule.

David Steven, the educational programmer on the project, told attendees the current phase (Module 3) focuses on translating educational priorities into a program that will drive schematic design. "Nothing that we do here is set in stone," he said, encouraging participants to be aspirational while noting that the MSBA also provides a space template that determines basic square footage and core spaces.

The district has retained Collier's Project Leaders as the owner's project manager (a requirement for Massachusetts projects above $1,500,000, Smalley noted) and contracted DRA Architects to lead feasibility and design work. The presentation summarized outcomes from earlier virtual workshops with the educational visioning group (about 28 members) and two in-person sessions: themes included student-centered learning, career and academic pathways, hands-on and project-based learning, flexible and adaptive environments, social-emotional learning, and preserving age-appropriate identities if grades are combined.

Next steps include further community workshops and faculty-level site work, a stated in-person visioning exercise planned for March 12 (the team said more community sessions will follow). The architects asked participants to continue sending feedback to the central administration and offered guided walks through the current 55-year-old high school for those who want to see the existing conditions.

The meeting contained no formal votes or motions; the workshop served to gather community input to inform the district’s educational plan for MSBA review.