2016-03-21-CEC-ATM-rpt - Laserfiche WebLink

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CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE REPORT TO 2016 ATM LPS currently own and operate six elementary- school buildings, two middle - school buildings, and the high- school complex of four, freestanding, academic buildings and a field house. Central Office ( "Administration ") personnel and services are located in what had been the old Harrington School. In addition, the old Harrington houses elements of the Lexington, Arlington, Burlington, Bedford, Belmont (LABBB) Collaborative and LPS Pre -K programs. The maintenance of those fourteen buildings is overseen by the DPF. Perhaps the most important capital issue facing LPS is the fact that the school system has an enrollment in Pre -K through middle school that is over the system capacity, so the increasing enrollment presents a growing pressure on the schools from a building - capacity perspective. • Pre -K: Currently there is no plan to add additional capacity to address the growing needs at the Pre -K level. • Elementary Schools: To partially address the current overcrowding at the Elementary level, the LPS will be adding six modular classrooms: two each to Bowman, Bridge, and Fiske schools. In addition, the LPS desires to replace the current 21- classroom Maria Hastings School with a new 30- classroom school at a cost of approximately $60 million, gaining nine additional classrooms. The MSBA will partner with Lexington to provide approximately 30% of the cost. It should be noted that this plan is not expected to fully alleviate the overcrowding in the elementary schools. Currently in grades K -5 LPS have taken art, music and other space to form 10 classrooms beyond the designed capacity of the set of K -5 schools. Even with these added classrooms there is expected to be a need for another 6 -12 classrooms to eliminate the overcrowding, by the start of the 2019 -2020 school year, depending on whether or not the modular classes are removed when Hastings comes on line and based on the median enrollment projection. • Middle Schools: The School Committee also desires to do extensive renovations to the Clarke and Diamond Middle schools, gaining capacity for 3.5 teams (with a planning capacity of 86 students /team) at a cost of about $67M (See this Committee's separate report to the March 21, 2016, STM 2016 -3, Article 2). This is expected to accommodate the median enrollment projections out to the 2019/2020 school year (and likely to 2020/2021). While capital projects for the LPS buildings and their environs are managed by the DPF, there are often requests for capital appropriations directly managed by LPS in the following four areas. School Technology Program There is a long -term plan to upgrade technology throughout the schools by replacing the oldest computers, peripherals, projection systems, network- delivery systems, and other associated hardware and software to use as enhanced instructional and administrative tools. (See Article 13(b)) Classroom and Administrative Furniture On an annual basis the school department replaces and/or repairs old or outdated furniture such as student and teacher desks, chairs, tables, filing cabinets and other basic furnishings. In addition to classroom and office furnishings, other system -wide furnishings include conference and cafeteria tables, bookshelves, and storage units. In FY2016, a District Furniture Assessment Analysis was funded that will provide important insight into the on -going management of that expensive asset base, provide for enhanced reuse and/or repair of existing furniture, and help tailor new requests to the minimum quantity, type, and costs of furniture that is needed to support the educational programs. While the initial results of that analysis are not yet in hand, there is an FY2017 request for needed furniture. (See Article 13(a)) Food - Service Equipment Food - service operations in all schools serve hot and cold meals to thousands of students each school day. It is essential to purchase and maintain equipment for preparing and maintaining cooked items and that provides for safe distribution. The food - service operations are contracted to a private vendor, but the purchase of equipment is the responsibility of the school system. To the extent practical, such purchases 28