Horace Mann Elementary
Horace Mann Elementary School Project
The Horace Mann Elementary project was officially added to the City's Capital Improvement Plan in 2022.
Project information and School Building Committee meeting presentations and recordings can be found on the Horace Mann Project website. Additional project information can be found below and on Newton Public Buildings’s Horace Mann Project webpage.
Below are links to documents related to both the short term work and the long term project.
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It is anticipated that the feasibility study will be completed this spring, with design complete by the end of 2024. Construction is expected to start in the winter of 2025 and be complete by the fall of 2026. This timeline may need to shift depending on the final design and construction logistics.
Horace Mann Playground Completed - Summer 2022
During the summer of 2022, the new playground at Horace Mann Elementary was completed. Thank you to all Horace Mann families, teachers, and staff, as well as the City of Newton, for working together to complete this important project for the school.
Building Committee Meeting Materials
Short-Term Horace Mann Elementary School Project
In 2013, the former Carr School at 225 Nevada Street was renovated to be used as swing space for a series of school building projects that would renovate and/or replace aging elementary school facilities across the district. Once renovated, the former Carr school was used as swing space to house students from Angier, Zervas and Cabot during each of these capital building projects.
In 2019, the School Committee voted to move the Horace Mann School to 225 Nevada Street as its permanent new home. A number of additional improvements were made to the building and site to accommodate Horace Mann in this new permanent location. These improvements included adding air conditioning, an off street bus loop and sidewalk improvements, and interior improvements to enlarge several instructional spaces and other modifications.
In September of 2019, Horace Mann opened at its new location at 225 Nevada Street. Based on feedback at a community meeting at the school on October 28, 2019, additional improvements were identified to be addressed over the 2019-2020 school year and over the summer of 2020. These improvements include:
- Two modular classrooms added in December 2019 to provide space relief
- Installation of acoustic panels in all classrooms, completion of an acoustics study, acoustic panels added in the cafeteria and sound isolation improvements around the music room as per the acoustic study recommendations during the summer of 2020
- Adding hand wash sinks on the second floor during the summer of 2020
- Interior painting
- Adding openings at playground fencing
- Pedestrian access from Linwood
- Playground structure and improvements
- Wall moves to enlarge classrooms
In addition to these short term needs, the need for a longer term capital improvement and building addition project was identified. The School Department identified planning funds and worked with the Public Buildings Department to hire a design consultant to begin the initial planning process for this project in February of 2020.