Do you know the history of how we got here?
For the past 10 years, members of the Chelmsford School Committee and the Chelmsford School Administration have worked on long-term facilities planning and explored options for addressing the district's school-building needs, including the feasibility of building a new school. Here is the timeline:
They began with a comprehensive facilities building assessment of all the schools in Chelmsford.
From there, they looked to develop a long-term capital plan, and decided that the town would pursue a new high school. The thought at that time was that then the two existing middle schools (Parker and McCarthy) would be combined and move into the existing high school building.
In 2018, the town applied to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), which is an organization that strives to work with local communities to create affordable, sustainable, and energy efficient schools across Massachusetts and ultimately helps fund these projects, offsetting some of the costs through a grant.
Chelmsford applied four times with the MSBA for a new or upgraded high school and was not selected before shifting its focus to the Parker Middle School. Through this process it was discovered that there are many other cities and towns in Massachusetts that rank much higher in need for a new high school and the MSBA usually only helps fund one or two high school projects a year.
In 2021, it was determined that the town would be better served to change direction and apply for a new middle school. As a result, the MSBA invited the Town of Chelmsford into the Feasibility Study Phase in December 2024. This launched a collaborative process to assess possible solutions for a new Parker Middle School.
The Parker School Building Committee was formed and has been meeting monthly.
Regular video updates and deep-dives continue to be broadcast by Chelmsford TeleMedia.
A Parker Middle School Project website was built to share all the details of this exciting project.
Recently, the project moved into the Preferred Schematic Design Phase (May-October 2026) — the critical stage where a school district takes its chosen, baseline concept and transforms it into a highly detailed architectural plan, concrete budget, and construction schedule.
Moving forward, this project will be brought to a Special Town Meeting vote on Monday, January 11, 2027, followed by a town-wide ballot vote on Tuesday, February 9, 2027 (a debt-exclusion referendum to increase property taxes for the sole purpose of building a NEW Parker Middle School).