New Minuteman school set to open ahead of schedule

A brand-new $144.9 million Minuteman Regional High School is expected to open one year ahead of schedule.

Minuteman Superintendent Edward Bouquillon told the Arlington Advocate on March 30 that students are expected to be in the classrooms and workspaces of the new building by August 2019, a change from the initial planned opening date of fall 2020.

According to a press release, demolition of the existing school building and construction of athletic fields would be completed by the summer of 2020.

Bouquillon said the main reason for the expedited schedule is due to the hiring of Gilbane Building Company as the general building contractor on an at-risk contract back in January.

“We selected Gilbane for many reasons,” said Bouquillon, who said eight different general contracting companies were interviewed. “But one of them is that they had a fairly aggressive construction schedule. Since Gilbane was selected, they have added a tremendous amount of value to the project.”

Leaky roof, broken building bedevil Minuteman

The new building is moving forward after years of planning and negotiating with various towns in the district over size of the building and enrollment that took immense efforts from the Minuteman administration.