Essex Building Committee Picks Three to Represent District in Architect Selection

ESSEX — June 24, 2025 — Essex building committee names panel delegates and dismisses no-cost school consolidation option. The Manchester-Essex Elementary School Building Committee voted unanimously at its June 24 meeting to designate OPM representative Pam Bowdoin, school official Michelle Presta, and building committee member Gordon Brewster as the district's three voting representatives on the Massachusetts School Building Authority's designer selection panel for the Essex Elementary School project, following a format used successfully in the Memorial School selection. The committee also unanimously approved Owner's Project Manager Doran Whittier's first invoice of $22,423. In a wide-ranging discussion of whether consolidating all Essex Elementary students into the Memorial School without construction was viable, members concluded the building's foundations, stairway widths, restroom fixture counts, and HVAC capacity made a zero-cost option unworkable, and directed that language explicitly ruling out the scenario be incorporated into future public materials and FAQs. Architectural proposals for the new Essex Elementary project are due July 2, with the MSBA panel's first meeting set for July 29.