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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