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Selectmen’s Meeting – August 3, 2015 On September 8 the Minuteman Regional School Committee will also review the results of a telephone public opinion survey being prepared by DAPA Research regarding citizen knowledge of the Minuteman Regional School and gauging whether there is support for the building project. The Minuteman Regional School Committee will also discuss on September 8 how to move the project forward and engage all the district towns through December 2015. No decision on a district vote will be made until December. They want to provide all of the information to the member cities and towns and try to get everyone’s support. At the December Minuteman Regional School Committee meeting they will review the progress and see if there is support for the building project and vote on whether to send the proposed school project to each member community for a Town Meeting vote or to call for a District wide vote. All 16 member communities have to support the project for it to move forward. If a district wide vote is taken only 51 percent of the total of votes from all the member communities would be needed for the project to move forward. If the MSBA approves the project on August 6, schematic drawings would be ready by December and would be available to all member communities Mr. Cohen hopes that Lexington will support the proposed Minuteman school project. He supports the proposed 628 student school so that it is able to offer enough programs. He supports the District-wide vote if the 16 member communities do not all support. He also thinks Lexington and the other communities should make sure their high schools have space for the students that currently go to Minuteman and to also think about providing some of the programs that Minuteman offers. Mr. Kelley supports the Minuteman Regional High School and that the 628 student population is the appropriate size to do adequate programs. He asked how many out-of-districts students would be include in a 628 student school. Mr. Horton responded that initially 40 percent of the students would be out-of-district, but the goal and aim is to increase the district participation. Also out-of-district communities will be asked to pay capital costs. Mr. Kelley asked what the stumbling block is for the 16 member communities with letting some member communities go if the burden is equally shared by all in and out-of district. Mr. Horton stated that the downside for communities who want to get out of the regional agreement is that they will not be able to send students if the school is full. It there is space available they would also be responsible for transportation costs. Minuteman Regional High School is planning to have Inter-municipal Agreements with non-member communities using a formula to recoup as much money as they can for capital improvements.