By Carol Britton Meyer

Unexpected repairs to the entrance to the Memorial Middle School will change how students and staff access the building when school starts on Aug. 30, and voters at the next night’s special town meeting will be asked to spend $300,000 to stabilize the top of the front portico.

“The school department is seeking emergency funding to cover the costs of the engineering design for stabilization, stabilization work, and engineering design for the reconstruction of the triangular masonry structure in front of the clock tower at the Memorial Middle School,” Superintendent of Schools Judith Kuehn told The Hull Times.

A future request for a larger bond is expected at the next annual town meeting once the total cost of the work has been determined, she said. The roof section of the portico is pulling away from the building, although there is no damage to the four columns supporting the structure.

Kuehn said that as a result of the needed repairs:
• Both front entrances will remain closed until the structure is stabilized, likely until October.

• Students will still be dropped off at the front of the building.

• Students and staff will enter and exit the building through side entrances.

• Visitors will park in the back of the school and be buzzed in through the rear entrance.

• Parking lines will be repainted and spaces reserved for handicapped and visitor parking at the rear of the building.

Kuehn said the $300,000 figure includes the cost of engineering design to stabilize the masonry structure at the entrance, an issue that was discovered recently by engineers and “presents a high risk to students, faculty, staff, and visitors to the school,” according to the advisory board’s comment in the special town meeting warrant.

“This is an anticipatory bond that will fold into the annual town meeting 2024 bond [if approved],” Kuehn said. “We’ll have the bids for the project before then, and we’ll know the cost of the whole project.”

The school, built in 1948 and named in honor of World War II veterans, previously housed grades six through eight. This fall, as the first phase of the school consolidation takes effect, only students in grades seven and eight will be housed there. Future use of the structure after Hull’s grades are fully reconfigured has not yet been determined.

Gale Associates, an engineering firm hired for this project, recommended creating a design to stabilize the triangular structure and monitoring that part of the building until the reconstruction work starts in the spring, continuing for about eight weeks contingent on the weather, according to Kuehn.

“There’s no way we could have foreseen this. It’s an emergency repair that we became aware of in the last two weeks, so the timing of the special town meeting is good,” Kuehn said. “We need to stabilize the structure so the building is safe for the students and staff for the new school year. We’ve been working collaboratively with the town manager, building inspector, fire chief, and Gale Associates to come up with a safe plan.”

If voters do not approve the warrant article, the result could be the “eventual failure of the entrance structure and exposure to harm,” according to the advisory board’s comments.

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