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CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE REPORT TO OCTOBER 16,2017, STMs 2017-2&-3 <br /> Warrant-Article Explanations and Recommendations <br /> Cites of the "Town Warrant"refer to the "TOWN WARRANT, Town of Lexington"for that, <br /> Special Town Meeting on October 16, 2017. <br /> Special Town Meeting (STM) 2017-2 <br /> Schools—Overview for Articles 2 and 3 <br /> Perhaps the most important capital issue facing Lexington Public Schools (LPS) is that enrollments have <br /> grown rapidly for several years at all grade levels resulting in overcrowded schools. The Town has been <br /> working to address this challenge. The Department of Public Facilities (DPF) and the Permanent Building <br /> Committee (PBC) recently finished adding six elementary-school modular classrooms—two each at <br /> Bowman, Bridge and Fiske. They have nearly completed renovations and expansions at Diamond and <br /> Clarke middle schools. Each of these projects was sufficiently complete for full use at the start of the <br /> current school year. The Clarke project is nearly complete with only a few remaining minor punch list <br /> items to be completed. The primary remaining item for the Diamond project to be completed over the <br /> coming year is replacing the HVAC system. <br /> These Articles address capital building items for preschool and elementary levels. The Lexington <br /> Children's Place (LCP)preschool long ago outgrew its space at Harrington, and is partially housed in the <br /> Central Office Building. This does not provide fully appropriate preschool space, therefore requiring <br /> children and staff to move between buildings, even in inclement weather. The elementary school system <br /> remains, in total, over capacity. Even with the six new modular classrooms, Bowman, Bridge, and Fiske <br /> each remains over right-sized capacity, as does Maria Hastings. This Committee commends the school <br /> administration for its strong efforts to use administrative methods to more evenly distribute students; <br /> currently Harrington and Estabrook are operating at full capacity and no schools have excess capacity. <br /> Even using increased administrative options, additional capacity is needed. <br /> 1 <br />