By Jay Lancaster
St. Mary’s High School is about to make the leap into 21st century education in a big way. The Lynn City Council voted to allow the school to convert an old church building into a new academic building, a move designed to help the school keep pace with modern educational practices.
James Moore, who testified before the council in support of the move, has personal ties to the school and was excited to see the plan approved. “We’re here to support the zoning change that will house St. Mary’s and develop and expand its position. I’m a graduate of St. Mary’s. My grandchildren go to St. Mary’s and they could use a new building to keep up with science and technology. They were wonderfully successful in their capital campaign. They were able to raise the money to get it done so now they’re going to go do it.”
James Lyle, who represented the school before the council, was effusive in his praise of the move, stating. “I’m just another supporter and it’s a big commitment on behalf of St. Mary’s. A big financial investment that should be good for the city of Lynn.”
City Councilor-At-Large Brian LaPierre, who voted for the move, enthusiastically explained what exactly this vote meant for St. Mary’s and the city of Lynn. “It will change to go
from a portion of the church to make it into a science, technology, engineering, arts and math building. STEAM is the acronym. So that’s classroom space, I believe that’s all we had to change, because it’s a church and it’s going to be converted into an educational space. That’s basically the idea around it so we granted approval, I think it was unanimous.”