Last month, the new Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School/Putnam Ave Upper School building in Cambridge suffered a fire that caused significant damage. At the time of the fire, the school was still under construction and was expected to open in the fall. Fortunately nobody was hurt during the fire, but the damage it caused created significant setbacks for the construction team. Despite efforts to keep the project on schedule, it has become clear that it will no longer be possible to open the school in September and the project timeline will need to be revised. It is also possible that the setback at the MLK Jr. School will impact schedules for the King Open School, Cambridge Street Upper School, Valente Library, Gold Star Pool, and Community Complex Project.

As a result, the planned June 11th meeting on the King Open/Cambridge St. Upper Schools and Community Complex Project has been postponed. Once the Martin Luther King Jr. School timeline has been revised, the City will reschedule this meeting. While the delay is unfortunate, it will allow the City to present the most accurate information to the community.

I know that so many in the Cambridge community were looking forward to the new MLK Jr./Putnam Ave school opening this fall and this news is very disappointing. However, I am confident that the City Manager and project team will deliver a new, safe, state-of-the-art school facility to our community as quickly as possible.

If you have questions about this news, please feel free to contact me. I will keep this post updated with new information as it becomes available.