2000-01-07 School Committee Minutes

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Joint Meeting with the School Building Committee -2- January 7, 2000 Mr. Bill Denhard asked what funds the Town had on hand and what was the schedule for reimbursement by the state. Mr. Hechenbleikner answered that we do not have a Capital Reserve Account. The closest we have to that is a Sale of Real Estate Account. The funds in this account can only be used in three ways. The funds can be used for capital items, debt service and payment of unfunded retirement liabilities. We currently have approximately $ 1.4 million in this account. We can only fund Capital Projects with 6% of the total operational budget. The renovation of Reading Memorial High School would require a debt override. For the new school, the Town would pay interest-only for five years. The Town would purchase Bond Anticipation Notes for five years and obtain construction financing. The SBAB reimbursement would be about five years. Parker funds were received in four years. Keep in mind that the interest on the bonding is reimbursable. Mr. Hechenbleikner went on to say that the total cost of principal and interest is reimbursed at a rate of 66% over a twenty-year period. Ms. Fran Sansalone asked about the use of space at Reading Memorial High School. Housing elementary and kindergarten-aged children at the high school will not work. Will someone address this? Mr. Dahl stated that there is more than one way to address this issue. He asked Mr. Joseph Finigan, Assistant Principal at the High School to speak. Mr. Finigan stated that in 1970 there was not a RISE or REAP Program at the high school. There was no such thing as Special Education and the Superintendent rented space on Gould Street. All high school students now attend six classes per day. We no longer have open campus. All of these factors contribute to the space concerns. Mr. Radville indicated that there are 96 teaching stations at the high school. Six classrooms are used for Special Education. Seven Classrooms are used for computer labs and three classrooms are used for Department Offices. One room is used for the cable television station and one is used for the office of an assistant principal. The equivalent of four classrooms is used for the Administrative Offices. Two classrooms are used by REAP and four at the RISE Preschool. The SEEM Program uses two rooms and the high school yearbook takes up one classroom. If the Superintendent had to rent space elsewhere, where would that be and at what cost? Dr. Harutunian stated that if we moved kindergarten out of the elementary schools, the two classrooms that would be freed up would have to be used as an art room and a music room. In 1997 the firm, DRA calculated that it would cost 6.5 million to renovate space at the high school for kindergarten students. Mr. Twomey added that there would be educational issues with 400 extra students at the high school. We would also have to bus all of the kindergarten students to the high ' school at a significant extra cost.