Essex School Building Committee Approves $84K in Invoices, Eyes Three-Story School Design

ESSEX — February 9, 2026 — Essex's Elementary School Building Committee weighed a three-story school building concept as site constraints tighten. Meeting February 9, the committee received an architectural update from JCJ Architecture presenting five phasing approaches for new construction and two refined addition-renovation schemes for the Essex Elementary School feasibility study, with members raising pointed concerns about long internal travel distances in the addition-renovation option — one member described the layout as creating paths "so far" that a first grader dropped at the main entry would "walk all the way around the courtyard to the new wing." The committee approved two invoices totaling $84,425.41, including $40,137.13 to JCJ Architecture and $44,288 to Doran Whittier, on a 9-1 vote. Project staff disclosed that the Massachusetts School Building Authority, following a same-day check-in, is requiring the committee to price at least five design options — including two grade-configuration scenarios the committee had hoped to shelve — before the Preferred Schematic Report deadline of April 28.