Construction began this week on Medford’s new public access television studio, nearly 16 months after the city announced plans to build a station at Medford Vocational/Technical High School.

The studio, scheduled to open in September, will occupy two vacated classrooms at the southwest corner of the building. Vocational/Technical High School Director Heidi Riccio said the studio would feature vertical windows allowing visitors to see inside, similar to TV studios in cities like Boston.

“I think it’s going to be very cool for our students to see a real live TV studio on-site,” said Riccio, who briefed Medford School Committee members on the project at the group’s March 28 meeting.

Initial work includes abatement of asbestos at the site, which was scheduled for the week of April vacation. Riccio said the bulk of remaining work on the studio would take place over the summer, with the studio to open in time for the launch of a new Media Technology and Video Production program in September.

If the project experiences delays, Riccio said students would still be able to begin the course in another room and move to the studio later in the fall.

“The hope is that it’s done by September, but we always put a little buffer in there just in case,” she said.

“I know that people want it probably sooner than later, but you don’t want to rush anything either.”

The studio will include spaces for the city’s public, educational and government-access TV stations, with a new entrance and bathrooms separating the studio from the rest of the school.

Riccio said current plans would allow students access to the studio during the day and then open to the public in the evening to avoid scheduling conflicts.

“When it’s used in the evening, they will only have access to that location,” Riccio said. “They won’t have access to the rest of the building. Even though it’s attached to the high school, it’s self-contained.”

When the city announced plans for the studio in December 2014, former Mayor Michael J. McGlynn said it would cost between $275,000 and $300,000, which he said was roughly the amount the city had available in collected cable service fees.

In addition to a new entrance, McGlynn said the project would include improvements to heating, ventilation and air condition systems, lighting, flooring and other needs. Design plans include a control room, playback area, editing desk and studio area.

Background: Public access off air since 2013

Medford has not had public access programming since March 2013, when TV3 went off air amidst accusations of racism, shoddy bookkeeping and other issues among its members.

In a Request for Proposals (RFP) to operate Medford’s public access station distributed in 2014, the city stipulated 10 conditions applicants must agree to, including a requirement that the board of directors consist of five members, all of whom must be elected annually by paid members of the station.

In May 2014, a three-person committee formed by McGlynn to make recommendations for a new public access station submitted a report suggesting the new board include community members and one member each appointed by the City Council, School Committee and McGlynn.

According the RFP, however, none of those entities will have a board appointment — a sign the city hopes to distance itself from the turmoil that arose during TV3’s lifespan.

“I’ve never had any interest in being involved,” McGlynn said in 2014. “It’s a public setup where the members decide what it is they want to do. Quite honestly, I don’t think we belong in there. It’s all about the public having access to participate in this process.”

The proposal also states board members are not to be paid and no board member may have any independent contractual relationship with the public access provider.

Other conditions listed in the proposal include requirements that the provider submit to the city monthly statements for every bank account used; that the board of directors provide the city with accurate equipment inventories when requested; that the provider submit to an annual audit; and that the board of directors appear before the City Council at least once per year.

“It won’t be the old boys’ club,” McGlynn said.

The city has yet to announce a new operator for the station.

New Voke program

As work begins on the new studio, the Vocational/Technical High School is taking applications for a teacher who would oversee the school’s new Media Technology and Video Production program.

Riccio said the program would open to freshmen Voke students next academic year as part of the school’s exploratory course offerings, with plans to grow the program in future years and open it to Medford High School students.

“The goal is by the end of the senior year they will have accumulated a variety of different industry-standard credentials that they can either take on to the workforce or they can get college credit,” Riccio said.

In planning for the station, Riccio and other city and school personnel visited schools in Beverly, Chelmsford and Brookline, among others, that also house access TV stations.

“I think schools in general have become more community-based centers where you want the community to come in to take advantage of all that we have to offer,” Riccio said.

The district plans to hire one teacher initially, but Riccio said she hopes to hire additional teachers as the program develops.

The teacher would oversee the studio during the day, with a non-school station manager taking over in the evening.

Once a teacher is hired and the studio is complete, the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will conduct a site inspection to review the facility, along with curriculum and instruction for the new media program.

“We want student-produced TV shows, student-produced PSAs,” Riccio said. “And when they’re working with real industry-authentic equipment, it becomes more real for them.”