Milton's Cunningham Elementary School feasibility study has cleared its early procedural milestones, with a fully executed contract for a project manager and a signed agreement with the Massachusetts School Building Authority now on file at Town Hall.
The School Building Committee's official page, updated Monday, Aug. 3, confirms PMA Consultants is locked in as the Owner's Project Manager and that the MSBA Feasibility Study Agreement is fully executed. The committee, chaired by Sean P. O'Rourke, is now positioned to begin the study's design and analysis phase for the school at 44 Edge Hill Road.
A bigger committee for a bigger process
Milton voters restructured the committee at the February 2025 Special Town Meeting, adding five non-voting ex officio seats to satisfy MSBA requirements. The expansion brought Interim Superintendent John Phelan, Town Administrator Nicholas Milano, Director of Consolidated Facilities Tom McCarthy, Local Budget Official Amy Dexter, and Cunningham Principal Dr. Jonathan Redden into the room alongside nine voting members.
Mark Loring, a School Committee appointee, holds MCPPO (Massachusetts Certified Public Purchasing Officer) certification, a credential the MSBA requires for procurement of project managers and designers on state-funded school projects.
$1.5 million to study the options
Town Meeting approved $1.5 million for the feasibility study on Feb. 25, 2025, voting 195–16 with one abstention. That money funds the study itself. The broader project's estimated construction cost has been reported at $70.6 million, as we noted July 31, though the source of that figure does not appear in the MSBA documents currently posted.
The MSBA formally invited Milton into the feasibility partnership on Feb. 25, 2026. In her board action letter, Executive Director Mary L. Pichetti emphasized that the invitation does not constitute project approval but is strictly an invitation for the town to work with the MSBA to explore potential solutions to the problems that have been identified at the school.
Three enrollment scenarios on the table
A January 2026 enrollment certification establishes the study's design parameters: 1,400 students in a co-located K–5 configuration combining Cunningham and Collicot elementary schools with district pre-K; 495 students for a standalone elementary school with neighborhood pre-K; or 660 students for a grades 7–8 middle school with district pre-K.
What comes next
The committee has its project manager but has not yet selected a designer. No upcoming SBC meeting date for the Cunningham study has been posted to the town's agenda center.
Milton is pursuing the Cunningham feasibility study in parallel with the potential purchase of the closing Labouré College campus for school use. A Special Town Meeting vote on the Labouré acquisition is expected this fall.
