Panel Votes to Advance Middle School Design

School Building Committee · Meeting of October 21, 2026

WATERTOWN — The Watertown School Building Committee voted unanimously to authorize design and bidding on the city's new middle school, following a City Council vote to move the project forward. Chair Mark Sideris thanked the council and the city manager, saying officials must "move quickly" to keep the project on a schedule targeting construction in summer 2027 and an opening in fall 2029. The committee also approved a $168,713.95 change order on the nearly finished high school, covering reworked stair railings, solar-canopy conduits and added rooftop steel needed to meet the building's net-zero design, plus $2,515,614.10 in September invoices.

A blower-door air-tightness test on the high school measured 0.103, well under the 0.35-to-0.45 range required by code. The project's pending change-order claims log grew to $1.5 million, and a disputed media-center staircase goes to a state accessibility hearing December 14.

In the full story:

• Roll Call and Administrative Items
• High School Monthly Invoices
• Punch List Progress
• Construction Progress and Systems Testing
• Project Budget and Change Order No. 36
• Facility Milestones, MSBA Tour and Accessibility Board Hearing
• Site Utility Work
• Middle School Project: Council Vote and Committee Authorization
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,470 words

Source: the School Building Committee meeting of October 21, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.