Superintendent Dr. Patricia Ansay updated the school committee on the high school restoration project during a meeting Monday. On Tuesday, Dec. 7, Ansay and members of the school building committee went to Boston to meet the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The panel talked about the two finalists, JCJ Architecture and Kaestle Boos Association Inc.

The panel hopes to have an architecture company chosen by Dec. 22 or 23 so the building committee can draw up a contract and an architect can begin running tests the week between Christmas and New Years.

Some of the work the architect is required to do has to be completed by mid-February to send out to the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

"The first week of January I would assume that that firm will be descending upon the high school to have conversation with teachers staff and administrative staff at the high school so that they can move forward with the design process," Ansay said.

Also discussed at the meeting was the cost of the project to the town.

 "There has been some conversations about the cost of the feasibility of the project," Ansay said, "which even though the loan is for $600,000 the cost to the town is $275,000 approximately."

"The total cost of the project may be upwards to 20 million, but the state is going to reimburse us somewhere in the vicinity of 60 percent, which brings that cost down to 8 Million," added school committee member Tom Golota.

"We will not bring this to town meeting without all of those details, which is why this timeline Dr. Ansay talked about is so important," he continued. "We have to get this architect information to the MSBA to bring to town meeting which will have full discussion to everyone at town meeting on what exactly will be in that project and what it will cost. So people will not be voting blindly. They will be voting on the information that will be presented there. I think what people have to try and decide now without that information is that do you want to save upwards of 12 million now, or possibly later on after we lose the state funding spend the 20 million?"

Today a joint meeting of the select board finance committee and building committee will be held in the high school library 6:30 p.m.