Lt John Fisher, USNR, a native of Cambridge, sent a letter to the CCS BOE on 18-Jan-1945. He offered the services of his architectural firm Hampton & Fisher. He presented 2 plans: one to build between the Old School and South Union (behind what was soon to become McWhorters) and one to build on the Hitchcock Farm on South Park.
In 1946 when rates were low (1.5%), Fisher advised BOE to borrow $885,000 (invest at govt bonds at 2.5%). Stubborn Cammbridge did nothing.
Soon after the 1947 fire, H&F was asked for a new set of plans, and the price had risen to $1.2M. BOE said that was too high and picked an arbitrary price of $1M
NYS Board of Ed told BOE that the reduced plans didn’t meet NYS standards and State Aid would be in doubt. BOE said “we don’t care” and told H&F to stop working with NYS, just listen to BOE we know best what Cambridge needs.
First, BOE told H&F to reduce the size of the building. Second, remove all public toilets and shop classroom. Third, shrink classrooms to 3/4 the recommended size.
H&F drew up the plans. BOE said NYS “approved” them but they hadn’t even submitted them to NYS for review.
H&F submitted a bill for $2,300 for design work … and the BOE refused to pay. The Cammbridge native didn’t offer to design it for free, he was stiffed by the BOE ;- )
NYS appointed an arbitrator and the plans were revised (cut-back) once more since the cost of the 2nd set of plans now exceeded the $1M target set by BOE.
First, they eliminated a Bus Garage for the New School. Ah-ha, now you know why we used the Old SChool for a bus garage from 1951-2008.
Second, there was a little outbuilding associated with the Hitchcock Farm. It was about where the New Buss Garage is. The new school design scrappped the HomeEc room, thinking kids could walk outside, down the street for HomeEc.
Third, they cut the auditorium out of the plan.
Fourth, cut the gymnasium out of the new plan. The kids could walk across town to the Old School and use the gym in the Hubbard Addition.
Wait a minute, you can’t use the Old School for both the Bus Garage and Gymnasium. So, they combined the auditorium and the gymnasium into one room. That”s why we have basketball hoops on the walls of our auditorium and pull-out, fold-up metal chairs instead of stadium soft-chair seating.
To wrap up, native son John Fisher did design the New School, every revision of the plan. He did get paid finally but only after threatening to sue CCS. NYS Board of Ed had to intervene. The published price tag was $850,000 but if you dig through all the paperwork and all the investigative reporting the price tag seems closer to $1.2M
Because of all the cut-backs, the school was built to house 720 students. With all the one-room schoolhouses being encouraged (forced) to merge with the Central School, there were 900 students by 1956 (5 years after the New School opened).
In 1957-58 we built the 4th-6th grade wing plus the “new cafeteria”. That ought to hold us for a few years, right?
Short-sighted as ever, Cambridge had increased the size of the elementary and Jr High without thinking that in a few years they’d need room for these students in High School.
In 1962 there was no room for my 5th grade class so we went to Patrician Hall. Cambridge voted to expand the High School wing and to build a new gymnasium. Price tag for the addition was $1.1M
I wonder what it would have cost taxpayers if we had built the properly sized school in the first place ;- )
BTW, while the village discussed building the New School (1947-1950), on Saturday evening 4-Mar-1950 the West End firehouse burned. Now we had to build a new school and a new firehosue. Oh my.