Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-11-07-SC-min1 LSC Meeting 11/7/16 LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE Monday, November 7, 2016 Central Office Upper Level Conference Room 146 Maple Street, Lexington, MA Present: Chair, William Hurley; Vice Chair, Alessandro Alessandrini; Judy Crocker; Eileen Jay; Superintendent, Dr.Czajkowski Absent: Jessie Steigerwald and Matt Campos The minutes were taken by Sara Calvino, Executive Assistant to the School Committee and Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent The meeting convened at 6:02 pm Call to Order and Welcome: Chair, Bill Hurley called the meeting to order, and introduced committee members. Public Comments: • Dawn McKenna, 9 Hancock St. - Precinct 6 Town Meeting Member– Lexington Children’s Place is great solution to make good use of the Harrington property. Dawn doesn’t know if the School Committee has thought about or talked to the town about the Armenian sister schools. The School would like to sell both buildings, Dawn feels that this would be a good place to house the Central Office building and possibly different events that she would be willing to talk about offline. People look at that building and think its old and needs a lot of work but it is in close proximity and in a great location. Superintendent’s Announcement: • No announcements School Committee Member Announcements: J. Crocker: Thanked everyone for the Trivia Bee that will take place on Wednesday, November 9th. Ms. Crocker, Mr. Alessandrini and Ms. Jay will be a team at the Trivia Bee. Ms. Crocker thanked Mr. Goddard, Engineering, Facilities and Mr. Valente for the flashing light on Lowell St. Ms. Crocker suggested to the Committee for a possible future agenda item on the MASC Conference. Agenda: 1. – Agenda Item: Lexington Children’s Place Dr. Czajkowski had a meeting with Mr. Dailey, Mr. Valente, and Mr. Addelson this afternoon. The hope is that on Wednesday at the Budget Summit 2 meeting, the School Committee will provide an update to the Finance Boards, the Capital Expenditures Committee, and the Board of Selectman on both the Lexington Children’s Place and the High School HVAC system. The Board of Selectman is meeting in executive session tonight to discuss the Pelham Property, and will hopefully have an update for the School Committee at the Budget Summit 2 Meeting. As the School Committee moves forward, the hope is to narrow down the options for LCP to move into a second phase. Ms. Billings-Fouhy reported that the Pelham site would open-up the possibility of a long-desired multi-generational program. When the School Committee met last week with Donna DiNisco, it was said that Concept C and Concept E are more preferred space, as both concepts fit well for the LCP program. Mr. Goddard gave a brief 2 LSC Meeting 11/7/16 overview of the 5 concepts that were presented to the Committee on the November 1 School Committee Meeting. Overall, Concept E has some preference as it relieves the congestion and traffic that the Harrington site already has. Mr. Hurley: With the Fall of 2019 being the deadline for LCP, what is latest we could go for the debt exclusion or exemption request? Mr. Goddard explained that when the Hastings project and fire department are ready to go then this project would need to be ready to move forward. This March at the Annual Town Meeting, Mr. Goddard would be seeking design funds for the LCP Project, which would allow for a project cost to be presented in the fall. The sum of $18,000,000 worries Mr. Hurley with all the capital projects that Lexington is currently in and will be doing in the future. Mr. Alessandrini: With respect to the cost, this is a need Lexington has. If we delay this project, we will miss going to the voters, and the cost will only rise as they did with the modulars and the HVAC system. Mr. Alessandrini’s first choice would be Concept E with a second choice of Concept C. Mr. Alessandrini is favorable to Concept E because of the relief of congestion and traffic it would have on the Harrington site, but also because it would be a mix of the School and the Town. The Town community center would be able to use the cafeteria and gym at the LCP. This would be a great opportunity to fulfill a need for the schools and a need for the Town. Ms. Crocker: Ms. Crocker’s first choice for an LCP location would be Concept E. She cautioned that the Town does not currently own the Pelham property and does not know the property price and possible acquisition date. The Pelham site is centrally located and the possible shared space with the Community Center is a key. Concept C, the freestanding building at the Harrington site, is very intriguing with the location to the rear of the property. Ms. Crocker still strongly believes the cost of the proposed site roadway improvements needs to come down, as it is not realistic. Ms. Crocker also like Concept A, the attachment on to the current Harrington School, as it allows for greater future options for use of the entire site. Ms. Jay: When looking at the price tag of Concept E for renovations, the renovations are estimating to cost the same amount as a brand new building. Ms. Jay would like to see more information on Concept E to explain where the costs are coming from and possibly modifying the cost to bring it down. Ms. Jay likes the idea of a freestanding building on Concept C but wonders if having it closer to Harrington would be more beneficial should Lexington need the space for other uses in the future. Mr. Goddard has been working with DiNisco on their draft final report, which would have more detail on where the Pelham site renovation costs are coming from, but it is not ready for distribution yet. Mr. Goddard explained that the money is being allotted for a new roof, new boilers, air conditioning system, new flooring and abatement for the PCBs and asbestos, and sprinklers throughout the whole building. Dr. Czajkowski: The past 20 years the Lexington Children’s Place has been relocated numerous times to different locations. These are the youngest children in the school district, some with disabilities, which are being moved to any accommodating space. Ms. Billings-Fouhy and her staff have done a phenomenal job fulfilling the needs of all children in the LCP, but this is an opportunity to give these children a space to call home for many years to come. As you know and can see at the Administration building, the LCP children move between two buildings as of right now. Dr. Czajkowski believes the Lexington Children’s Place is a priority, as we are at our maximum with no more space to grow. With no space to expand in the current LCP rooms, Lexington will have to pay for out of district placement for each child that cannot enroll due to space, which could cost up to $100,000 per child. Dr. Czajkowski asked Mr. Goddard to address the seven million that is being allotted for the site parking and traffic pattern on Concept C, as it seems excessive. Mr. Goddard explained that as of right now it is 3 LSC Meeting 11/7/16 based on square footage of work. Mr. Goddard explained that we would need to develop new storm water retainage strategy based on the increased roof area in addition to more paved area and parking. Mr. Hurley: Whichever concept the School Committee agrees upon, they want the community to support it as well. The last thing the School Committee wants is for a debt exclusion to fail. The preferred placement of the Lexington Children’s Place would be concept E, as long as the Town can come to an agreement with the current owners to purchase the property. 2. – Agenda Item: High School HVAC Dr. Czajkowski asked Mr. Goddard what does the $20,000,000 covers and what is the potential life expectancy of the current HVAC system? Mr. Goddard reviewed the last few years of facility work that has been done in Lexington High School. With the SOI for the High School possibly being only five years away, Mr. Goddard does not know if spending the 20 million now makes sense. If the School Committee does not move forward with the 20 million for the HVAC system, one option could be to put some air conditioning into some teacher workspaces to alleviate the heat for the time being. Mr. Goddard is confident that facilities can continue the current system for the next several years until we look at the High School on a much larger scale. Mr. Hurley: Could updating the vents do anything? Mr. Goddard explained that it wouldn’t be cost effective, as we would like to go from steam to hot water in the future. Ms. Crocker: With this large price tag, we should be looking at the entire high school as a project and not just the adding of a Band-Aid. Moving forward, Ms. Crocker would like to hear more from the Finance Committees as she feels that this potential cost and its timing to the Town requires a much broader conversation. Ms. Crocker asked Ms. Lasa her thoughts of how she feels about the growing high school population and the inherent future needs this will bring. Ms. Lasa would like to understand what the year of completion would be for the HVAC system and if a new school, when that process would begin as well. Ms. Lasa believes this is a lot of money to spend if there is a new building coming in the next 5 to 7 years but if there is not, than certainly address the issue through the HVAC. Mr. Goddard anticipates that the MSBA would not approve the High School as we are doing the Hastings Project. Dr. Czajkowski asks if the Hasting project is done in 2019/2020, would the statement of interest be submitted right after, right before, what is the timeline? Mr. Goddard recommends submitting the SOI in January 2019. Ms. Lasa explained to the Committee that you can certainly add more students but you cannot continue to offer all the programs that are currently offered at the High School. Dr. Czajkowski recommended enlarging the high school class size, adding double sessions, reducing programs, online AP classes or moving out LABBB to address the growing population until a new high school is built. Mr. Hurley: If we end up doing a renovation on the High School as opposed to a new building will that compromise the work that was done on the HVAC system? Mr. Goddard explained if you change the square footage then you would be changing the distribution of the air not anything on the roof or in the boiler room. In Ms. Lasa’s opinion, we do not have the facilities that mirror our programs at the High School. When it comes to addressing all the program needs, she would not like to see another renovation. Ms. Crocker 4 LSC Meeting 11/7/16 mentioned that the School Master Plan by the architectural firm SMMA did provide a few options for the anticipated growth at LHS. This included reconfiguring the Waltham St front area to include a more welcoming auditorium/Black Box area and expanded cafeteria as well as adding a new STEAM wing to the rear of the main building near the World Language building. Ms. Jay asked Ms. Lasa to explain the biggest concerns she has for program needs. Ms. Lasa explained, there is not adequate science space particularly around the labs, class sizes are growing, can’t predict special education needs, insufficient performing arts space, we are not offering music class to students who have not taken music at a young age and lunch space. The School Committee agrees that the Lexington Children’s Place is priority at this time. Since we are meeting with the Capital Expenditure Committee tomorrow, Mr. Goddard asks if the School Committee would like to explore some options with the Capital Expenditure Committee at the Summit on Wednesday to possibly use the $300,000 planning dollars for the High School to add air conditioning to teacher workspaces. The Committee agreed they would like to explore this option as well. Ms. Crocker suggested housing the IT Department at Central Office when the LCP is relocated to their own site. This could possibly free up a little bit of space for students at the High School. Motion to adjourn. (Hurley /Alessandrini) The Motion was approved 5-0. The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 Meeting Materials: Agenda; A.1- DiNisco Design LCP Phase One Presentation; A.2- LHS Heating Systems Upgrade, Exhibit B