HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-01-25-PBC-min.pdf TOWN OF LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS
PERMANENT BUILDING COMMITTEE
Notes from Saturday January 25 1997 Meeting in School Administration
Building, as amended and approved February 4, 1997
The meeting was called to order (without a quorum) by Chairman Bruckman
at 8 30 a m with other committee members Kelley, and Touart present
Also present were Director of School Buildings Operation John Moynihan
and School Committee Chairman Barrie Peltz as well as John Miller and
Dorothea Hayes of HMFH
Copies of the draft HMFH Master Plan Study on elementary and middle
schools were distributed and discussion centered around their content
Elementary Schools packet raised extensive questioning on uses and
potential uses for special education spaces, including the Early
Childhood Center that is intended to help preschoolers with identified
problems that would seriously hinder readiness for Kindergarten
Q What is the 502 4 Special Education Program A This program is for
special education student who spend more than half their school day in a
segregated special learning setting Each school is mandated under the
recent education reform law to have these classrooms Existing such
classrooms are one each at Estabrook and Harrington and two are at
Bridge
Q How many children are served by the Early Childhood Center, and does
it have to be at Fiske? We recommend it be at Harrington, for better
site size and vehicular access
Q Shouldn' t the Learning Center's 850 s f classroom be multipurpose
with room dividers added to facilitate this? Why not make the Learning
Center truly multipurpose to cover uses 6 through 9 on pages A3 - 1-4 of
the report (adding use by Reading, ESL and METCO programs) , thus
possibly reducing the number of miscellaneous dedicated spaces with
part-time uses? A Peltz , thanking the PBC for the quality of their
questions, promised to talk with Paul Lombard on Special Education
space, equity and use of existing spaces
Q Is there sufficient staff for the proposed Learning Centers? A
Definitely yes !
General questions also emerged on elementary schools 1
Q Why is the library at Hastings too small after being approved and
built so few years ago? A At the time the "library/media center"
included another room down the hall that has since been converted to
other uses because of overcrowding
Space for Extended Day Program has been eliminated from plans for
Estabrook The committee lamented the exigencies of changing standards
for classrooms Existing classrooms average about 850 s f , with new
rooms closer to 1000 s f Adjustments can be made by student placement
A Page, attached to the elementary schools packet , gives total cost
figures for what has to be done Basically included are items listed in
PBC Notes of 1/25/97 - Page 2
the Archetype report minus recommended site work since that is not
required to qualify for reimbursement by the State Both renovations
and additions listed answer what must be done to accommodate enrollment
increases Bruckman asked if there are "grey areas" in the list of
renovations required Miller explained that an elimination exercise
( from Archetype recommendations) had been done for the Bowman School ,
and he said this could be easily done for the other schools
When asked about the difference between "Total Construction Cost" and
"Total Project Cost", Miller responded that the latter is the former
plus 30 percent for clerk of the works and other ancillary markups for
project administration, contingency, etc
The committee expressed clear favor for the kind of information supplied
by HMFH today Their instructions to Miller and his firm "We do not
want any more schematic plans (to be picked apart or solidified in
public image) , just facts in spreadsheets, charts and words "
Middle Schools Chairman Bruckman led by asking why (at the bottom of
Page B1-1) the figure of 22 students per class average is given instead
of the School Committee' s recommended 25 This means that a square
footage of 160 per student instead of the state-recommended 135 is
planned for middle schools Miller and Hayes explained this on the
basis of extensive consultation with the middle school principals and on
the team teaching method followed at that level In this way there can
be three whole teams in each grade within the school , and there would
not be the scheduling hassles of shared or half teams
Miller noted that inefficiency in space utilization shows up most in use
of science rooms , where usage is less than 80 percent, while usage in
other spaces is over 80 percent Some "down" time for science rooms is
actually used and needed for equipment preparation and cleanup
Another problem in the middle schools involves libraries Whereas
Diamond' s library requires expansion, classroom carve-out will reduce
size of the Clarke IMC Information on this situation is in previously-
produced material Both IMCs are to be over 6000 s f
It was also noted that Lexington's very high percentage ( 93%) of
children in public rather than private schools is lowest in middle
schools , suggesting that more parents are sending their offspring to
private schools at that level This phenomenon makes middle school
population projections more unreliable than those at other levels
Moynihan agreed to try for answers to committee questions at the next
Tuesday meeting Ms Peltz cited limitations in the School Committee's
response to questions and limitations imposed by the PBC An example of
this would lie in the logistics of half teams at middle schools and
complexities of the school programmatic situations
Hich school Space will be needed at the high school for centralized
purchasing and warehouse, custodial room, teachers ' lounge/eating space
and a system-wide print shop Changes are to be made to the main
quadrangle, along with enclosure of passageways from one building to
another, shortening students ' time and distances between classes
PBC Notes of 1/25/97 - Page 3
Moynihan said he would attempt to get responses to the committee's
questions by the next meeting
Kelley told the committee about the reinstatement of the Building
Finance Committee, and that they met yesterday morning The BFC would
like to meet jointly with PBC and has invited them to the next scheduled
BFC meeting Friday, January 31 at 7 30 a m in the Selectmen' s Meeting
Room Chairman Bruckman said he could not be there and number of other
PBC members available at this hour is not certain
Meeting ended at 11 33 a m
Respectfully submitted,
an,_ 16,114eag,
Erna S Greene, Secretary