New Pierce School is an educational adventure of itself

By Jane Weldon Shultz

The new Pierce School is like no school most people have ever seen.

It’s a futuristic, multi-level world of bright colors, concrete, brick, and wood; little round balconies and miniature sitting rooms; modern furniture and plump cushion-chairs.

The heart of the school is the two-leveled instructional materials center, or library, which is surrounded on the first level by sixth, seventh, and eighth grade classrooms, and, on the second level, by second, third, fourth, and fifth grade classes.

One of the most unusual features of the building is the fact that all electrical, water, and heat facilities are exposed, rather than built into the walls.  Anything that has to do with electricity is painted green; with heat, red; and with water, blue.  Ann Macdonald, assistant superintendent of schools for curriculum and instruction, said the architect had thought it would be educational for the children to be able to see “what makes the building tick.”

The school also has, among other things, a community room which will be open to elderly persons all day; full facilities for pupil-personnel services; specially designed spaces for art, industrial arts, and homemaking; a music room which opens onto an outside amphitheater; and two gyms, one of which is for special needs students.

The school has nine traditional closed classrooms and one self-contained unit of three classrooms, as well as small conference rooms, but most of the teaching will be done in an open setting.  The closed classrooms are primarily for younger children.

Principal Timothy Graves stressed that every open area has at least two, and often three, walls.  He said this is important in that it gives students and teachers an area to “back up into.”

Graves said that, because of the open setting, teachers are going to work more closely together, sharing space, children, and ideas and the library will play a very large part because a majority of the classrooms open onto it.

He also said that he was pleased that the Pierce School at last has all the facilities it needs.

Graves offered a couple of historical tidbits.  “This is the first time in over 70 years that all of Pierce is in one building,” he said.  “Half the school used to be in the old grammar building, which was built around the turn of the century, and half the school was in the old primary building.  People had to walk outside to go to the library or cafeteria.”

And while the new building was being constructed, kindergarten pupils attended school in the Presbyterian Church, second, third, and fourth grade students had classes in the old Pierce primary building, and the rest of the students attended school in St. Mark’s Church.

Graves also pointed out that the primary building, which was built in 1855, is the oldest public school building still standing in Brookline.  It is eventually going to be remodeled and joined to the new building, according to Miss Macdonald.

The history of the new Pierce building goes back to 1969.  In that year, according to School Superintendent Robert Sperber, over 100 Brookline teachers and administrators created a document called “Planning for the Future.”

In this document, Sperber said, it was stressed that “as we did the school buildings over, we wanted flexibility…that physical space should be physically responsive to what the principal and teachers wanted to do.  The Pierce is more open than the Lawrence School is and than the new Devotion and Lincoln Schools will be because the faculty, Dr. Graves, and parents felt this is the way the school should be built.

Sperber continued: “I feel it’s a school that children will enjoy being in. It will have its adherents among adults and there will be adults who will be skeptical.  It is a unique school with a lot of whimsical features. It was built on a scale for children.”

Sperber said he hopes that seniors and children will get involved with each other as a result of the community room for elderly persons.

“The outside shouldn’t be judged until we get funds for trees,” he concluded.  Once trees are planted, the outside feeling will be softened.”

The Pierce School was designed by William Warner of Providence, who was chosen on the basis of a school he created in Andover, the Bancroft School, Sperber said.

The total cost of the project, including land acquisition, architect’s fees, construction, and furnishings, was $6,330,470, according to Ferd Tagle, assistant superintendent of schools for Funds and Facilities.

People either love or hate the new Pierce School; nobody feels neutral about it, according to both Kazanjian and Miss Macdonald.

Miss Macdonald herself feels the building is “exciting.  It has so many possibilities and the school was so limited before,” she said.  “I wish I were starting my teaching career over.”

In spite of his declaration that no one is neutral about the school, Kazanjian said he has no clear-cut feelings about it because he is so involved in its maintenance.  “As the school buildings get more complex,” he said, “the problems of maintaining them get more complex. The custodian has a sophisticated system to take care of.  Because all the utilities are exposed, they’re more subject to vandalism than if they were hidden in the walls. On the other hand, some repairs will be easier because of this since it will be easier to locate problems.”

The school is 99 percent carpeted; Kazanjian said the carpeting will be time consuming to clean but that it creates a quieter atmosphere for the school.

Sperber appears to be correct in his belief that children will enjoy being in the school.  Six fifth-grade boys who were surprised lounging on some orange cushion-chairs in one of the round balconies were extremely enthusiastic about the school. “It’s the best school in America,” it’s groovy, exclaimed Mark Eliasson.

Brian Templeton one upped Mark. “I think it’s the best school in the world,” he said.

Mark Johnson likes the school “because we have a good gym.”

Clair Crane, a former president of the Pierce Parent Teacher Organization and mother of a third-grade student at the school, said Tuesday, “My daughter’s very excited about the school.  She can’t wait to get in.” (As of Tuesday, grades five through eight had been moved in; all the students should be in by next Monday).

Mrs. Crane said the building is “exciting,” and “was built with children in mind.  A lot of parents have commented negatively,” she said, “but the children seem very thrilled. I’m pleased at the prospect of their having a decent school. I think it’s a pleasant, airy, cool building.”

Sixth-grade teacher Lynn Lannon said Tuesday morning that she likes the school, but that it’s too early to say whether it will be easier or harder to teach there.  “But it’s certainly going to be more pleasant.”

The only person with negative feeling about the new Pierce School who would express them was Sumner Z. Kaplan, chairman of the Board of Selectmen.  “If the new concept doesn’t work,” he said, “there’s no possibility of re-doing the school.  And we can’t really justify the amount of money that was spent…It was a custom job, and we could have used a lot more standardization…We learned a lot from it.” Kaplan continued, “A by-law was passed in 1969 that says we have to work a lot more carefully at each stage of the game and take a more careful, analytical approach.

Principal Graves urged people not to visit the school for a while, but to wait until the formal dedication in a month or two, to which the community will be invited.  He said the staff has its hands full trying to get settled.