2015-11-02-CEC-STM#1-rpt - Laserfiche WebLink

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CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE REPORT TO NOVEMBER 2,2015, STM#1 Administration Building (which is in the old Harrington Elementary School); however, there is limited space there that can be used without triggering extremely expensive upgrades to meet modern building codes—and having preschool children walk across the parking lot on a regular basis in all weather conditions is far from ideal. If the number of special-needs preschool children continues to rise along with the total enrollment as expected, additional space will be needed for the preschool, or LPS will have to begin out-of-district placements which will be very expensive. If the program grows in place, it will reduce space for the K-5 program at Harrington. The Town should expect that a new preschool will be needed in the next few years. The total elementary school population is 3,054 as of October 1, 2015, requiring 142 classrooms, In order to meet this, classrooms are formed out of space not intended for this use at Bridge, Bowman, and Fiske. These three schools are severely overcrowded. If these schools are "right sized" (i.e., reduced to their intended level of occupancy), the system has 132 general-education classrooms for a total capacity of 2,838 based on the SC target of 21.5 students per class. The current plan to add 6 modular, general- education, classrooms would bring the number of classrooms in"right-sized" schools to 138. Unfortunately over time the populations have shifted within the Town leaving Bridge, Bowman, and Fiske severely overcrowded(by over 100 students each) and Estabrook and Harrington, two of our newer schools, underutilized. While Hastings appears to be slightly underutilized in the following Table 2, it cannot readily support the target class size of 21.5 because of its smaller-than-normal classrooms and the intensive nature of its special-education program. The SC is working on a redistricting plan for implementation in the fall of 2016.This Committee welcomes that effort. Table 2: Current and right-sized enrollment per school. Property Current Number of Average Right-Sized Right-Sized Over-Enrollment Enrollment Classes Class Size Number of Classes Enrollment Relative to Right-Size Bowman 576 27 21.3 22 473 103 Bridge 569 26 21.9 21 452 117 Estabrook 511 24 21.3 27 581 -70 Fiske 519 23 22.6 19 409 110 Harrington 446 21 21.2 22 473 -27 Hastings 433 21 20.6 21 452 -19 Total 3,054 142 7 21.5 132 2,840 214 "Right-Sized"=Average Class Size of 21.5