AHFC School Report 10 2009 Final

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To: Members of the Lexington School Committee From: Ad Hoc Facilities Committee (AHFC) Re: Final Report to the School Committee Date: October 16, 2009 The Ad Hoc Facilities Committee is pleased to make its report to the School Committee. Background This past June, the Lexington School Committee established the Ad Hoc Facilities Committee (AHFC) to advise it concerning the Design Partnership Facilities Master Plan. The School Committee charge asked the AHFC to include, but not be limited to, the following areas: 1. Review the Design Partnership Master Plan and its recommendations; 2. Assess the impact of the deficiencies identified in the Master Plan on the educational process and then prioritize the recommendations; 3. Propose options for addressing the deficiencies, including timing; 4. Make a Final Report to the School Committee. The membership of the Ad Hoc Facilities Committee included two members appointed by the School Committee, two members appointed by the Board of Selectmen, and three members appointed by the Permanent Building Committee. Also in attendance were liaisons from the Appropriation Committee and the Capital Expenditures Committee. Individual School Committee members attended some meetings. Please refer to the end of this report for a list of participants. The Ad Hoc Facilities Committee met seven times from June through September. Considerations The AHFC evaluated the Design Partnership Master Plan and deemed it to be a commendable analysis of the current condition of the high school and elementary schools, complete with recommendations for further maintenance, renovation, and new construction. The Committee spoke about a number of issues. Here are the most important ones: The AHFC viewed the report as a snapshot in time and realizes that the Master Plan will be provided to the Architectural /Engineering firms hired for the various projects as a starting point. The Committee further realizes that the costs presented in the Master Plan are 1) provisional, 2) inextricably tied to the scope embodied in the Master Plan, and 3) possibly subject to escalation outside the bounds anticipated in the Master Plan. The Committee wants to warn all who extract costs from the Master Plan to extract the costs along with all "markups" and "qualifiers" contained in the Master Plan. • The Committee reflected on the former Commonwealth school construction reimbursement program (known simply as "School Building Assistance" or "SBA ") that favored new construction and provided the Town of Lexington reimbursement values just below 60% for the parts of the Fiske, Harrington, Diamond, Clarke and Lexington High School projects that met SBA criteria. Under the auspices of the former SBA program,