Glossary

The project comes with a lot of acronyms. Here is what they mean.

Abutters: Property owners next to the school site. They get their own meetings about things like traffic, noise and parking.
CM / CMR — Construction Manager (at Risk): The firm that will build the school. Under the construction-manager-at-risk method the CM is hired during design, not after it. Medford’s Building Committee voted on October 6, 2026 to accept the recommendation of Suffolk Construction.
CTE — Career Technical Education: Medford High's vocational programs (Chapter 74). The new building keeps them and adds dental assisting, criminal justice, plumbing/HVAC and IT networking.
Debt exclusion: A ballot question that lets the City raise property taxes above the Proposition 2½ limit for the life of the loan that pays for the school. Expected in spring 2027.
DESE — Department of Elementary and Secondary Education: The state education department. Its guidelines shape the career technical spaces, and it reviews special education spaces.
Design enrollment: The number of students the building is designed for. The MSBA certified 1,395 in grades 9–12.
Designer: The architect. Produces and issues all the design documentation. Medford's designer is SMMA.
Feasibility study (Module 3): The stage that answers what to build, where, how big, and roughly what it costs. It has two reporting steps, the PDP and the PSR. Medford's ran from October 2025 to August 2026.
GSF — Gross square feet: A building’s total floor area, including walls, corridors, and mechanical space.
LEED: A green-building rating system. Meeting its healthy-materials goal earns 1% more MSBA reimbursement.
MCHSBC / SBC — School Building Committee: The Medford Comprehensive High School Building Committee: City and school officials plus community members, appointed to monitor the project and advise the City through design and construction. It is the body that votes.
MCM — Medford Community Media: The local media organization that will use space in the building, and have offices there.
MCPPO: Massachusetts Certified Public Purchasing Official: the certification the state requires of whoever oversees public procurement. The City, the OPM and the designer each have to have one. About MCPPO
MEEP — Medford Early Education Program: The district’s preschool program for ages 3–5.
MEP: Mechanical, electrical and plumbing: the building's heating, cooling, ventilation, power and water systems. One of the four advisory teams focused on MEP and sustainability.
MSBA — Massachusetts School Building Authority: The state authority that partners with cities and towns to fund and oversee school construction. It reimburses a share of eligible costs and must approve each stage of the project. MSBA website
OPM — Owner's Project Manager: A firm that represents the City and manages the whole process on its behalf. Medford's OPM is LeftField.
Option C.2.2A: The design chosen for the project: keep the site, keep and renovate the pool and gyms, and replace the arts, academic, and vocational wings with a new six-story building.
PDP — Preliminary Design Program: The first report of the feasibility study: the educational program, an initial space summary, existing conditions, design parameters, and a set of alternatives (Medford had 29). Submitted February 25, 2026. MSBA Module 3 guidelines
PFA — Project Funding Agreement: The agreement the City and MSBA sign after voters approve funding and the City Council authorizes borrowing.
PPA — Power purchase agreement: An outside company owns the solar panels, and the school buys the power.
Proposition 2½: The state law that limits how much a city’s property tax levy can grow each year. A debt exclusion lets the City go above that limit temporarily.
PSBA — Project Scope and Budget Agreement: The agreement that sets the project’s scope and budget. The MSBA Board is expected to vote on it on April 28, 2027.
PSR — Preferred Schematic Report: The second report of the feasibility study: the alternatives refined and compared, and one recommended to the MSBA Board. Submitted June 25, 2026; accepted August 2026.
PV — Photovoltaic: Solar panels.
Reimbursement rate: The share of eligible costs the MSBA pays. State law sets the formula: a base of 31 percentage points, adjusted for community income, property wealth, and poverty, plus incentive points. Medford’s rate is not final.
SD — Schematic Design (Module 4): The stage the project is in now. The preferred option is developed in enough detail to fix the scope, budget and schedule that the MSBA and the City will sign up to. MSBA Module 4 guidelines
SOI — Statement of Interest: The first step in the MSBA program. A district tells the MSBA what is wrong with a school building and how that gets in the way of teaching. Medford submitted its SOI on April 13, 2023.