Habib & Associates presented six master‑plan options for the Freetown‑Lakeville Regional School District on Jan. 13, showing a range of responses to aging facilities and program needs and estimated costs ranging from about $88 million to $263 million (2024 dollars).

The consultant team said their work combined a physical condition assessment and an educational‑adequacy review—two steps the firm said are necessary before recommending solutions. Steve Habib, president and founder of Habib & Associates, told the committee that the district faces roughly $82,000,000 in identified repairs from the physical‑condition assessment, not counting inflation, and that options layer program changes and site reconfigurations onto that work.

Why it matters: the options will guide capital planning and outreach to the towns and to state funders. Some options are limited to repairs and site improvements; others add classrooms at Assawompsett Elementary; two options propose replacing the high school on different parts of the campus and moving athletic fields. The firm said enrollment projections show a slow, continued decline and that only Assawompsett needs additional classroom space under the district’s desired program.

Details: Habib said the least‑costly option keeps the existing campus largely intact while adding turf fields and completing the repairs identified in the condition assessment. A set of mid‑range options (labelled A2/B2/C2 in the presentation) include a modest four‑classroom expansion at Assawompsett to accommodate about 60–65 additional seats needed for the program. The most expensive options propose a new high school building and significant site reorganization.

Committee members asked whether elements of the work could be submitted to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for reimbursement. Habib said projects such as roof and window replacements could be submitted to the MSBA (for example, through the accelerated repair program or a core project) and recommended preparing statements of interest where appropriate.

Next steps: committee members said they will reconvene the capital committee to review the report, prioritize projects, and ask the consultants to highlight items that are MSBA‑eligible and to identify higher‑priority repairs. Habib offered to prepare a prioritized summary to aid those discussions.

The presentation was framed as planning work only; no vote was taken. The consultants and district staff said they will provide a more digestible summary for the capital committee and town officials before any request for funding is advanced.