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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-03-04 School Committee MinutesREADING SCHOOL COMMITTEE Reading, Massachusetts REGULAR SESSION March 4, 1998 CALL TO ORDER Chair Twomey called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. in the Superintendent's Conference Room. Present were School Committee members Cavicchi, D'Antona, Spadafora, Stohlman, Twomey and Williams. Also present were Superintendent Harutunian, Associate Superintendent Richards and Beth Klepeis. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT Dr. Harutunian advised that, due to town meeting, the meeting with the RTA has been changed from March 12th to March 17th. Dr. Harutunian advised that shortly after April 1st, all Reading Schools will have high speed Internet access. DISCUSSION ON COOLIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL Chair Twomey advised that the School Committee was meeting tonight to decide whether to support the School Building Committee's recommendation for the renovation and addition of Coolidge Middle School. Chair Twomey advised that the School Building Committee had spent the last year reviewing enrollment and middle school issues. After a presentation by the architect hired to do a feasibility study which included five options to solve the middle school problem, the School Building Committee has endorsed one of the options set forth by the-architect. The School Building Committee came before the School Committee with the proposed solution and the School Committee voted to endorse putting the project on the warrant for town meeting. Working parallel to the School Building Committee was the School Size.and Enrollment Committee which was formed by the School Committee and given the charge to bring back to the School Committee three or four recommendations including the pros and cons of each to solve the elementary schools enrollment issues. One of the recommendations brought to the School Committee by the School Size and Enrollment Committee was to convert Coolidge to an elementary school and build a new middle school at Dividence Road. REGULAR SESSION -2- March 4, 1998 Chair Twomey advised that, if the School Committee endorses the School Building Committee's proposal, it would eliminate the third option from the School Size and Enrollment Committee. The issue tonight is whether the School Committee supports the School Building Committee's proposal. Chair Twomey advised that Mr. Stohlman had requested to make a presentation. Mr. Stohlman advised that he had the following three assumptions: 1. We need to solve the elementary enrollment problem. 2. We need to solve the Coolidge enrollment and programmatic problems. 3. Whatever the solution, it has to encompass the entire system. Mr. Stohlman distributed a packet including 13 pages of spreadsheets showing costs for various options and a map of the Birch Meadow area that shows possible sites for new school. Two sites would have no connection to the high school and one site intricately connected to the high school but separate middle school which would not depend on the high school being renovation. He also stated that to make Coolidge into an elementary school might require very little money to renovate 22 -24 classrooms which would be a large savings from the projected $7 million to $15 million. Mr. Stohlman described the options as listed and opened the discussion up to questions. Concerned citizen, John, stated that one of the assumptions is that architect stated that Coolidge will need work no matter what such as plumbing, heating, etc. Mr. Stohlman stated that Option 4 proposed that $4.7 million be spent to renovate Coolidge to an elementary school and it is still one of the lowest cost options. Concerned Citizen, Bill, stated that his concern is putting elementary students into Coolidge without proper renovation. Believes will take more than $3 million to renovate and we are starting off with a false assumption. REGULAR SESSION -3- March 4, 1998 Mr. Stohlman stated that it is not misleading. He has been to Coolidge and spent the day walking through the school trying to figure out what to do before it became an enrollment problem. Mr. Stohlman stated that he is an architect and believes renovations can be done for less than $3 million. Chair Twomey stated that the suggestion to put new Coolidge at RMHS and convert Coolidge to elementary is basically the School Size and Enrollment Committee's third option except the middle school would be at a different location. The figure used for a new middle school is $13 million. Mr. Stohlman stated that he did what the architect did using SBAB guidelines as the worst case number. If the middle school is put near RMHS and can share services, will see a savings. A concerned parent asked whether any consideration given to the environmental impact to adding another school in the Birch Meadow Area. Mr. Stohlman stated that none of the proposals had any considerations given to environmental impact or traffic, all solutions have their problems. Dividence Road is also a major traffic concern. Mr. Stohlman stated that he is extremely sympathetic to the traffic concerns of Birch Meadow and believes the Board of Selectmen can solve traffic issue. Chair Twomey stated that any feeling on the suggestions, the impact of any additional school on the operating budget is approximately $367,000. The only issue tonight is whether to endorse the School Building Committee's proposal for Coolidge, it does not add an 8th school and does not have an impact on the operating budget. If the School Committee endorses the School Building Committee's recommendation, it will not effect operating budget. Mr. Stohlman stated that the $367,000 to operate a new school pales in comparison to the $2 million for teachers and materials which will be needed to meet the increased enrollment. The principal of the Parker Middle School urged caution on the estimated cost of,a new middle school. He stated that the Parker project still coming in at $13 million and began three years ago. REGULAR SESSION -4- March 4, 1998 Ms. Williams stated that when the School Committee was holding the meetings to discuss School Size and Enrollment Committee recommendations, the issue came up of whether Dividence Road is buildable, does anyone know if that site is actually buildable. Dr. Harutunian advised that Joe Delaney, Town Engineer, Don Nadeau, Town Conservation Office, did a preliminary analysis and feel the area can handle the school footprint, a 60,000 square foot parking lot and possibly 1 soccer field overlaid on 1 baseball field. Mr. Stohlman stated that there is no question that using Coolidge as an elementary school is for an enrollment problem and would be considered Category II by SBAB. He said renovating and adding onto RMHS in order to create a separate new Middle School would also be SBAHB Category II and that using the excess space could lead to increasing the odds that the RMHS renovation would also be considered Category II. Dr. Harutunian advised that Category III projects that are carried over to the next year for funding still will go before Category I and Category II projects requested in the next year. Chairman Graham of the School Building Committee thanked Mr. Stohlman and stated that he had presented a tremendous amount of information. He stated that elected officials can no longer afford to search for the ideal but must make a decision, the children in town need a decision. Mr. Stohlman stated that if the Coolidge project goes forward as discussed it would still be possible to put an elementary school at the high school site but he believes a middle school there would work better. If there is a complex of connected building there is more flexibility than separate discreet schools. Potential to open up a world of positive aspects as well as potentially negative aspects. The whole reason for changing Coolidge to an elementary school is that he truly believes that this is the best solution if we get into capital crunch because of operating budget. Mr. Spadafora stated that he was pleased with the creative solutions of both the School Size and Enrollment Committee and Mr. Stohlman. He stated that the decision made tonight will be felt for years. Space is an issue at the elementary schools and the middle school, RMHS is on the back burner because it is not a REGULAR SESSION -5- March 4, 1998 space issue. His concerns regarding turning Coolidge into an elementary school are as follows: 1. Congestion at the Birch Meadow area. 2. If we put middle school at the high school, we still have no idea what to do with the high school and Reading Memorial High School will be the biggest capital item. 3. Want to keep middle school central, Dividence Road is not central. 4. Concerned that the estimate for renovating Coolidge as an elementary school will cost more than the $2 million stated. 5. Concerned that estimate for new middle school at $13.2 million may be to low. Ms. D'Antona stated that she appreciated the ideas brought forward by Mr. Stohlman and by the School Size and Enrollment Committee. Ms. D'Antona stated that she supports fully the project endorsed by the School Building Committee. She stated that she hopes that the same open process can be used to solve the elementary problem and the Reading Memorial High School problem, both issues will need the same creativity. Ms. Williams stated that she is concerned that the vote tonight will close the door for one option. We are hiring someone to come in and look at the entire picture. Concerned that we will get into a situation where once Coolidge is done we will run out of money for other projects. Ms. Williams stated that she will vote to push Coolidge forward because it needs to get done. Ms. Cavicchi stated that she is voting in support of the Coolidge project. She stated her appreciation for Mr. Stohlman's work and the work of the School Size and Enrollment Committee. Ms. Cavicchi stated that any delay will make the cost higher. She stated that she doesn't believe that renovating Coolidge precludes looking at RMHS area for an elementary solution. Until we have a better handle on the operating budget, can't support any additional school. Mr. Stohlman stated that he never voted not to support he school system and that if colleagues on the School Committee and School Building Committee are of the opinion that it is a desperate time and need to get our foot in the door, he won't stand in the way. Mr. Stohlman stated that he too will support the School Building Committee proposal. C REGULAR SESSION -6- March 4, 1998 Chair Twomey stated that he will enthusiastically support the School Building Committee's recommendation. He stated that we have a current problem at Coolidge which will only get worse. Have concerns about cost of operating an 8th school. Ms. D'Antona made a motion to endorse the School Building Committee's proposal to renovate and add on to the Coolidge Middle School at a cost of $9 million. Ms. Cavicchi seconded the motion. The vote was 6 -0 Ms. Cavicchi, Ms. D'Antona, Mr. Spadafora, Mr. Stohiman, Mr. Twomey and Ms. Williams. ELEMENTARY ENROLLMENT A discussion was held regarding the proposed feasibility study for the elementary enrollment problem. It was agreed that the School Building Committee will meet with the School Committee in the fall to discuss study. Ms. D'Antona made a motion to endorse the recommendation of the - administration to request $50,000 from Town Meeting for a feasibility study regarding the elementary enrollment problem under the direction of the School Building Committee. Mr. Stohlman made a friendly amendment to the motion adding the following to the last sentence of the motion "after consultation with the School Committee ". Ms. Cavicchi seconded the motion. The vote was 6 -0 Ms. Cavicchi, Ms. D'Antona, Mr. Spadafora, Mr. Stohlman, Mr. Twomev and Ms. Williams. ADJOURN At 9:30 p.m. Ms. D'Antona made a motion to adjourn into executive session for the purpose of discussing strategies relevant to collective bargaining with the cafeteria workers. Mr. Stohlman seconded the motion. The vote was 6 -0 Ms. Cavicchi, Ms. D'Antona, Mr. Spadafora, Mr. Stohlman and Ms. Williams. Respectfully submittted, Q�7 K ��' Harry K. Harutunian, Ph.D. Superintendent of Schools