A response from COO Jim Maloney regarding concerns related to the Tobin Montessori/Vassal Lane building project

Tobin Montessori/Vassal Lane Building Project Concerns

The below is a response from COO Jim Maloney regarding concerns related to the Tobin Montessori/Vassal Lane building project: “I know that you have been receiving letters from individuals in the Tobin Community seeking another year’s delay in the relocation of the Tobin School to the Longfellow building on Broadway. Since the requests focus on the Longfellow building and outdoor space I want to offer a few facts and observations.

First it should be pointed out that the indoor air quality of the Longfellow building will meet all of the air exchange levels outlined in our return to school documents. Fresh air exchanges at the Longfellow are essentially the same as the Amigos, Cambridgeport, Fletcher Maynard, Kennedy Longfellow, Graham and Parks and the current Tobin Building. I would point out additionally that ironically the current Tobin Building has been the focus of decades of accusations over poor air quality.

One thing we learned in our investigation last summer of indoor fresh air in our school buildings is that older buildings such as the Longfellow were built with many large operational windows that allow for supplementary fresh air beyond the building’s air intake systems. Interestingly, our oldest building, Cambridgeport has had the fewest COVID cases this year. In addition, we will have HEPA Filters available as we do in all schools.

It should also be noted that the Longfellow Building houses students from the High School Extension Program and we would not allow them in the building if we did not have confidence in air quality. When it comes to open space, there can be no doubt that the Longfellow location has less open space than the Tobin Building.

However, it is important to recognize that the Longfellow Building will have more available open space than the Amigos School, the Fletcher Maynard Academy, Cambridgeport School and the amount of outdoor space will not be much different from the Graham and Parks and Haggerty Schools. Working with Principal Frost I am confident that we can make full use of the existing Longfellow play areas. There is also a small city park 300 yards from the building that can be utilized if the school eventually decides to access it.

Speaking more generally I would say that CPS is more than capable of meeting any of the challenges and concerns of the relocation. The Vassal Lane Building not only 2 houses the Tobin but a crowded, cramped upper school whose faculty, staff and students were promised a new building almost a decade ago. The building is in poor shape and regularly leaks into barrels full from rainwater and snow from a roof that is beyond the patching and repair that we have been doing while we wait to close the building.

The heating system in the building is in very poor shape. This project is not just about today’s Tobin teachers and students, another year delay in this project pushes the next school out and so on. This project is about meeting the educational needs of all Cambridge students now and into future years. We are confident that the needs of the students can be met at the

Longfellow Building.” (No Enclosure)

Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, Esq. 795 Massachusetts Ave.

Cambridge, MA 02139

ssiddiqui@cambridgema.gov

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