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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-10-30-SMPC-min 4'7"° aM°"1''G TOWN OF LEXINGTON Ad hoc School Master Planning Committee (AhSMPC) APPo'L I4' Minutes Date October 30, 2014 Place and Time- School Administration Building,Upper Level Conference Room, 8 00 A.M. Members Present Paul Ash, Superintendent of Schools, Judy Crocker, School Committee Peter Kelley, Board of Selectmen(BoS) Patrick Goddard, Director, Department of Public Facilities (DPF) Jon Himmel, Permanent Building Committee (PBC) Carl Oldenburg, PBC Jessie Steigerwald, School Committee Members Absent None Liaisons Present David Kanter for Rod Cole, Capital Expenditures Committee Liaisons Absent Mollie Garberg, Appropriation Committee Alan Levine, Appropriation Committee Semmes, Maini, and McKee Associates (SMMA) Phil Poinelli, Educational Planner Joel Seeley- Project Manager Others Present Tom Diaz, Candidate for School Committee Bill Hurley, Candidate for School Committee Kate Colburn, Lexington Parents Advocacy Group(LPAG), Gretchen Reisig, LPGA, Claire Sheth, LPAG Ashley Waring, LPAG Katie Wipke, LPAG Sandy Beebee, LPAG Becky Barrentine, resident; Christina Lin, resident; Patricia Valda, resident; Harvy Simkovitz, resident; Bettina McGimsey, Sidewalk Committee and Parent Teacher Association-Parent Teacher Organization Presidents' Council, Bob Pressman, Community Preservation Committee Mark Barrett, DPF Recording Secretary Sara Arnold Dr Ash started the meeting at 8.02 A.M. 1 Administrative Details SMMA agreed to accept comments on the Lexington Public Schools Master Plan- Phase 1 report until Monday,November 3rd The School Department is creating a website for all materials associated with school population growth, the impact this has on the school system, and the efforts by this Committee to address these issues This will include all comments received by the School Department regarding this subject. Documents should be forwarded to Dr Ash. 2. SMMA Update on Phase II Master Plan Mr Poinelli reported that SMMA has started its work on the Lexington Public Schools Master Plan - Phase 2 by looking at short term options at the elementary schools, as requested by this Committee, to address anticipated near-term enrollment increases This will be followed by looking at short-term options to address enrollment at the middle schools Using PowerPoint slides,Mr Seeley reviewed three tasks that were explored for the elementary schools and responded to questions, as follows • Task 1 Relocate one pre-kindergarten program into the current School Administration building In this scenario, two rooms in the School Administration building are repurposed for the Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy (OT/PT)pre-kindergarten program. The room identified as an OT/PT waiting room is larger than necessary because that is the size of the current room and there is no need to decrease it. The estimated cost of this project is approximately $420,000 Some of the cost drivers, such as new floors, cabinetry, air conditioning and accessible toilet rooms are included in an effort to make the space equivalent to that which is currently used for the pre-kindergarten OT/PT program. Some of those items could be removed from the scope to reduce the costs if the renovations were considered to be a temporary solution. • Task 2 - a two-step process Step One Renovate the School Administration building to accommodate the entire pre- kindergarten program,which is currently in the Harrington Elementary School (Hamngton) Step one has two alternatives o The entire pre-kindergarten program is accommodated within the current envelope of the School Administration building and prefabncated facilities are added to accommodate displaced school administration needs. The estimated cost is approximately $13 7 million. o Prefabricated facilities are installed next to the School Administration building to supplement the pre-kindergarten needs. This results in less disruption for the school administration staff. The estimated cost is approximately $12 1 million. In both alternatives, the gymnasium in the School Administration building is converted into areas for professional development programs and storage space The high cost for the School Administration building renovations is influenced by code requirements, including installation of a sprinkler system and meeting Americans with Disability Act requirements Step Two Repurpose the vacated pre-kindergarten space in Harnngton into Kindergarten-Grade 5 program space and support areas for such use The estimated cost is approximately $330,000 Mr Seeley noted that this conversion works well with the rest of the space in Harrington. He added that this part of the project couldn't be started until the completion of step one he projected a March 2017 completion date but felt this could be adjusted to a less disruptive time Mr Poinelli agreed that if Option 2 is pursued, it would change the Harnngton capacity figures in the Phase 1 report, although the change may not be significant. He also agreed that the scope of work for Option 2 could be tweaked,but the current data provides an order of magnitude for this project • Task 3 Installing two classroom-sized temporary modular units at Bowman Elementary School (Bowman), Bridge Elementary School(Bridge), and Fiske Elementary School(Fiske) The estimated costs are approximately $690,000, $730,000 and $980,000 respectively Fiske carnes a higher cost because of site utility work involved in moving two geo-thermal wells Other locations that were evaluated involve tree removal or the loss of some play area space,neither of which seemed advisable Adding a partial second floor instead of using modulars was not explored,but if the current foundation wasn't built to support a second floor this would be cost prohibitive There was considerable discussion about the unknowns associated with long term solutions,which have not yet been studied, and concerns that these could be negatively impacted by the short term decisions. For example, it was noted that it isn't known whether adding wings to some school buildings is a reasonable long term solution,but if wings are added, the location of temporary modulars should not negatively impact the preferred location of those wings It was also noted that modulars are a temporary solution, generally used for no more than three years, if the space they provide is going to be needed for more than three years,prefabncated buildings would likely be more cost effective Numerous comments supported the idea of understanding the big picture and long term solutions before making decisions about short term solutions Comments also supported the need for some School Committee policy decisions, Mr Kelley expressed particular concern about the lack of clarity associated with school districting He wants to understand the degree of flexibility the School Department has, based on its policies, in assigning neighborhoods to elementary schools and how this impacts enrollment at both the elementary and middle schools There was discussion about the importance of sequencing decisions to facilitate a logical process for moving forward and the need for an interface between the temporary solutions and the long term solutions Mr Poinelli commented that, in January 2015, SMMA will have a draft Phase 3 report with long term solutions identified, these could help this Committee develop short term recommendations and could inform a 2015 Annual Town Meeting funding request related to short term solutions Dr Ash said that moving students from Fiske to Estabrook Elementary School,which currently has three extra classrooms, can provide a stop-gap measure to address 2015-2016 enrollment demands,but he stressed that the projected enrollment demonstrates a need for additional system-wide elementary school classroom space no later than September 2016 He added that in December he expects to have information from the Massachusetts School Building Authority regarding a state subsidy for rebuilding Hastings Elementary School (Hastings),which will help the Town understand the long term picture,but whether or not the Hastings project is approved for a subsidy, the school needs to be replaced or entirely renovated and expanded. Mr Kelley commented that the Town needs a three year window to get taxpayer support for any major school project. There was discussion about developing a decision tree that demonstrates a process layout. Ms Steigerwald, Mr Himmel, and Ms Reisig agreed to work on this in preparation for the Monday night School Committee meeting Ms Crocker suggested that this effort try to incorporate concerns that have been identified during this meeting or previous meetings • The space limitations for the pre-kindergarten program,which indicate that one more student may result in the Town having to fund out-of-district services. • Requests for a master plan before making recommendations about installing modulars • Requests for an understanding of the impact school districts have on specific schools. Mr Kanter asked this Committee to make note of the memo that he had distributed from Mr Cole,who was unable to attend this meeting He also suggested that it will be important for this Committee's to go to the general populace with its long range recommendations 3 Minutes A motion was made and seconded to accept the October 23,2014 Minutes The motion passed. VOTE 7-0 4 Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9 45 A.M. These minutes were approved on December 4, 2014 Materials distributed/used at the meeting. Public Meeting Agenda, October 30, 2014, AhSMPC Draft Lexington Public School Master Plan, Phase 2 Elementary Schools Short and Long Term Options Study, prepared by SMMA, October 30, 2014 SMMA PowerPoint slides Lexington Public Schools, Ad hoc Schools Master Plan Committee, School Committee Progress Report, Phase 2 Elementary Schools, October 30, 2014 Memo from Mr Cole to the AhSMPC, October 30, 2014 3