Plymouth committee takes up the timeline Thursday for a new school to replace Hedge and Cold Spring
The two North Plymouth schools enrolled 387 students last school year. The state building authority's designer selection records put the estimated construction cost at $120 million to $160 million, and the district lists the maximum reimbursement rate at 53.32%.
PLYMOUTH Updated 5 p.m. Nov. 12, 2026.
Plymouth's School Building Committee meets Thursday night to go over the schedule for a new North Plymouth elementary school that would replace Hedge Elementary, built in 1910, and Cold Spring Elementary.
The committee meets at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, in the Shallop Room on the fourth floor of Town Hall, 26 Court St., and on Zoom, according to the posted agenda. The school portion of the agenda lists a project overview covering the purpose of the project and the state's school building process, a schedule with milestones, next steps and open discussion. In its 2024 application to the Massachusetts School Building Authority, the school district wrote that it "seeks to build one new elementary school serving its northernmost areas," while the feasibility study that Town Meeting voted to fund covers replacing or renovating each school.
Hedge enrolled 188 students and Cold Spring 199 in the 2025-26 school year, kindergarten through grade 5, according to the state education department, or 387 children between them by our count. The district lists the state authority's maximum reimbursement rate for the project at 53.32%, with the building size, the total budget, the effective reimbursement rate and the state grant still to be determined.
Why the district wants a new building
Hedge sits on 2.04 acres at 258 Standish Ave. Its original three-story, split-level building went up in 1910, with additions in 1913 and 1923, the district wrote in its April 2024 statement of interest to the authority. The building "has three floors in two separate areas, multiple entrances, no elevator, and bathrooms that do not meet the requirements," and the cafeteria is capped at 48 students at a time, so other spaces have been used for lunch, the statement says.
Cold Spring sits on 7.64 acres at 25 Alden St. It was built in 1951 as a two-story school and gained an addition in 1955, and "there has been no major renovation or update since the facility was originally constructed," according to its own 2024 statement. The district named Hedge as its one priority application to the state that year and marked the project as a potential consolidation of the two schools.
The district's project page lists the objectives under consideration for the project. Students "are not supposed to receive instruction in stairwells or hallways," it says, and the reception area "lacks any real safety features except for buzzer access. There is no double entry." Food is prepared in the same room where students eat, and "students walk through the parking lot to get to the building and there is barely enough parking for staff." The page also says the new school "must be within the area of North Plymouth," that the Hedge site "is small and has significant restrictions," and that the Cold Spring property "is in a congested neighborhood."
Where the money stands
Spring Town Meeting voted 145-1 on April 5, 2025, to borrow $2 million for a feasibility study to replace or renovate both schools, on a roll call that needed a two-thirds majority, according to the town's record of motions as voted. That borrowing shrinks by whatever grant the state sets in its feasibility study agreement with the town, and any cost above the state grant falls to Plymouth, the motion says.
The authority's record of its designer selection for the Hedge project lists an estimated construction cost of $120 million to $160 million, the range published in the request for designer services, while the district's project page still lists the total budget as to be determined.
Construction money is a separate and later question. Under the authority's feasibility study rules, the district and its team first file a preliminary design program and then a preferred schematic report, the authority's board votes on moving into schematic design, and its board then votes on a project scope and budget agreement that goes to a town vote. The rules say an invitation from the board to study a project "is not approval of a project."
How far the project has come
The agenda for a Jan. 28 meeting of the Hedge Elementary School Building Committee listed introductions of its members, a review of the request for an owner's project manager and forming a committee to pick one, and the School Building Committee's April 6 agenda listed a vote to approve posting that request. The authority's October board report lists the Hedge project in the feasibility study phase with CHA Consulting Inc. as owner's project manager, and lists Plymouth among four districts that finished choosing a designer through the authority's Designer Selection Panel since the previous report.
Four firms applied to design the project, according to the panel's results chart. The panel reviewed the applications Aug. 25 and interviewed three finalists Sept. 8, then ranked Ai3 Architects LLC first, Raymond Design Associates second and CBT (Childs Bertman Tseckares) third.
The rest of the night
After the school item, the Town Building Committee takes up its own list: the Nathaniel Morton school parking lot, a scope reduction and new bid schedule for the Visitor Center, a historic study, exterior repairs and a sprinkler leak and Blue Room ceiling repair at Memorial Hall, the DPW administrative building, planning for Fire Station 4, the deferred maintenance program, and closeouts of the police station heating and cooling project and Fire Station 2 doors. A review of the town's 10-year capital projects is listed for December.
How to take part
The Zoom meeting ID is 963 0609 5553 and the passcode is 521943, as posted on the agenda, and the school item includes open discussion. Plymouth Public Schools posts the statements of interest, the 2021 facilities condition assessment and the 2023 existing conditions study on its Hedge Building Project page at plymouth.k12.ma.us. The central office is at 11 Lincoln St. and can be reached at 508-830-4300, and Christopher Campbell is superintendent of schools. South Coast 360 asked Superintendent Campbell on Thursday about the schedule and milestones the committee expects, which design firm was chosen through the state's Designer Selection Panel and when the district expects a cost estimate, and will update this story with his answers.
The committee's next meeting is listed for Thursday, Dec. 10, and members are set to discuss moving it to Thursday, Dec. 17.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every fact comes from the Plymouth School Building Committee and Town Building Committee agenda for Nov. 12; the town's record of motions voted at the April 5, 2025, Spring Annual Town Meeting; the Massachusetts School Building Authority's October 2026 project overview report, its Designer Selection Panel results chart and its feasibility study guidelines; the state education department's 2025-26 Plymouth enrollment and district profile; Plymouth Public Schools' Hedge Building Project page; the district's 2024 statements of interest for Hedge and Cold Spring; and the committee's Jan. 28 and April 6 agendas. We read them on Nov. 12, 2026. The 387-student total is our own arithmetic from those records. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (12)
- Town of Plymouth School Building Committee and Town Building Committee meeting agenda, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, 6 p.m.Two pages, posted on the town Agenda Center. Time, place, Zoom ID and passcode, every school and town building item, the Dec. 10 and Dec. 17 dates. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- April 5, 2025 Spring Annual Town Meeting, motions as votedArticle 5: $2,000,000 feasibility study for Hedge and Cold Spring, borrowing, grant reduction, town pays costs above the grant, two-thirds roll call, carried 145-1-0. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Massachusetts School Building Authority, Project Overview Report, October 2026 BoardDesigner Selection table (Plymouth, Hedge Elementary School, shaded as complete since the last report) and the Oct. 2 project status list (Hedge, Feasibility Study, OPM CHA Consulting Inc.). Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Massachusetts School Building Authority, Designer Selection Panel meeting results chart, November 3, 2026Plymouth, Hedge Elementary School: application review Aug. 25, 2026, interviews Sept. 8, 2026, estimated construction cost $120 million to $160 million, four applicants, three shortlisted, final ranked order Ai3 Architects LLC, Raymond Design Associates, CBT. Linked from the authority's Designer Selection Panel page. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Massachusetts School Building Authority, Module 3, Feasibility Study guidelines, July 2024The steps from the preliminary design program to the project scope and budget agreement and the town vote; an invitation is not approval of a project. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Plymouth enrollment by grade, 2025-26Hedge 188 and Cold Spring 199, kindergarten to grade 5. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Plymouth district profileCentral office address and phone, superintendent. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Plymouth Public Schools, Hedge Building Project pageCurrent status, the By the Numbers table (maximum reimbursement rate 53.32%, the rest to be determined), the documents list and the project objectives. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Plymouth Public Schools, 2024 Statement of Interest, Hedge ElementarySubmitted April 2, 2024: district priority, potential consolidation, one new school for the northernmost areas, building history, no elevator, cafeteria capped at 48. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Plymouth Public Schools, 2024 Statement of Interest, Cold Spring ElementarySubmitted April 3, 2024: 7.64 acres, built 1951, addition 1955, no major renovation since. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Hedge Elementary School Building Committee agenda, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026Introductions, MSBA status, owner's project manager request for services. Read Nov. 12, 2026.
- Plymouth School Building Committee agenda, Monday, April 6, 2026Vote to approve posting the owner's project manager request for services. Read Nov. 12, 2026.