2015-02-12-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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02/12/15 AC Minutes 2. School Building Capital Projects: There was discussion about the School Committee's anticipated request, based on an analysis by Pat Goddard, Director of Public Facilities, and Jon Himmel, Co-chair of the Permanent Building Committee, for $4,080,000 at a spring Special Town Meeting (STM) to fund further studies, schematic-level design, design development, construction documents, and bidding. The purposes of the request for funds include the identification of the best approach or approaches for addressing the need for additional capacity in the schools, with the level of work tailored to the projected needs and timelines for each of the schools involved. In response to questions, Dr. Ash and Ms. Coppe noted the following: • There will be a request for proposals for architectural services for the studies noted above for a number of school buildings. It was noted that an acceptable plan must take the following issues into account: ➢ The pre-kindergarten program needs additional space. It can be located in a stand-alone facility or as part of an elementary school building. ➢ The Diamond and Clarke Middle Schools (Clarke)need additional space, but there are site challenges at Clarke. ➢ Enrollment projections indicate a potential need for 18 additional elementary level classrooms over the next five years. • One scenario for achieving 16 additional elementary classrooms within three years is to build a new Hastings Elementary School (Hastings)with 9 additional classrooms for students not now attending Hastings; move the pre-kindergarten program out of Harrington Elementary School and reconfigure that space into four additional classrooms; and use three classrooms that are currently available at Estabrook Elementary School (Estabrook); redistricting may be necessary for utilizing spaces in these and other schools in a balanced manner. • Core space for libraries, art, music,physical education and lunch programs, and administrative support must be adequate. • The $4,080,000 study would begin to yield information by the mid to late summer or early fall in order to allow the Town to make decisions about how to proceed with specific projects. The idea is to take different projects to different levels of design and preparation of construction documents and then schedule a fall town meeting to request construction funds for the projects that are selected for construction. Not all of the projects being initially considered will necessarily be pursued. • Educational and financial implications need to be considered when deciding how to proceed. A suggestion was made that Estabrook be included in the study to determine whether the site would be appropriate for an addition or a stand-alone pre-kindergarten facility. There was general support for an approach outlined by Joe Pato, Chair of the BoS, that the motion include a requirement for BoS authorization to proceed beyond a certain point for each of the projects being considered, with the understanding that the BoS and staff would hold a summit with the School Committee and finance committees to review the options. The BoS would make decisions based, in part, on input from the summit. Mr. Addelson discussed the complexities associated with a five-year time restriction associated with bonding a project that does not result in construction. He plans to meet with staff next week regarding this issue and will work with bond counsel to determine how to word an article that may 2