This 2014 sketch of the planned new Hanscom Middle School will have “neighborhoods” of classrooms with shared central space.
Construction of the new Hanscom Middle School is on schedule and expected to be completed this spring.
“Education has changed a lot since the old schools were built 60 years ago. This new space will allow us to teach with 21st-century methods,” said Erich Ledebuhr, Hanscom Middle School principal. “The setup of the building is different as it is not the traditional classroom-by-classroom setting. There are a lot of common and open spaces—the design of the building was built around a common indoor space in the center of the school with classrooms surrounding that.”
In 2014, Superintendent of Schools Becky McFall offered examples of the school’s design features and a floor plan when making the case for educational enhancements to the Lincoln School.
The new school will feature indoor and outdoor learning areas, STEM-enabled classrooms (science, technology, engineering and math), and a building system with solar panels and rainwater harvesting for teaching. There are also two general-purpose rooms, a gymnasium, an information center, a computer lab, a science lab, a specialist room, music and art rooms, a classroom for learning-impaired students, and administrative offices.
Since breaking ground on the middle school project in June 2014, students have been educated in nearby temporary facilities. As the project nears completion, school officials are ramping up plans to move the primary school into the temporary facility over the summer so that work can begin on the new primary school, which is slated to open in September 2018. Once they’re both complete, the schools be connected and will share a cafeteria and kitchen.
Both schools were built in the late 1950s and have had several upgrades. The last major renovation/addition was in 1988 at the primary school.
All funding for the two projects—$34 million for the 85,000-square-foot, 310-student middle school and $36 million for the preK-3 elementary school designed for 450 students—is from the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity.
Federal officials say they plan to tour Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford with an eye toward housing unaccompanied children who have crossed the southern border into the United States illegally.
Hanscom is one of six military bases nationwide under consideration, the federal Department of Health and Human Services confirmed. HHS has asked the Department of Defense to make 5,000 beds available.