January 28, 2008
New Middle School Design
Before a standing room only crowd, the architect unveiled his plans for a new middle school to be built just north of the high school on Franklin Ave (closer to Rt. 46). The town would purchase approximately 44 acres, but only 14 acres would be developed due to steep slopes on the remainder of the property. The design presented last night was just a preliminary design for the purpose of developing cost information to be submitted to the state for approval in order to have a referendum in September. A final design will not be developed until the referendum passes. Also, the purchase of the property will be contingent upon passing the referendum.
The architect explained that he met with students, faculty, citizens committee, etc. to develop the design for the new school. They recognized the need for new space and explored two options: building a new school, or expanding all three district schools. Ultimately, the board chose to pursue the new middle school option due to physical limitations at the existing schools. The following guiding principles were used to design the new school: home away from home for kids; programs driving spatial needs, not space driving programs; green and clean; anytime, anyplace; flexibility (build for ever-evolving educational process); after-hours controlled access.
The new school will be designed in a "w" shape. The center of the "w" will be the main entrance and the administration wing. The left side of the "w" will be a 3-story classroom wing, and the right side of the "w" will be a cafeteria and gym. At the end of the administration wing will be art and music rooms, including an outdoor classroom built into a necessary retaining wall. All classroom and lab spaces will comply with state requirements for square footage. Outside the building, there will be separate areas for bus drop-off and parent drop-off on different sides of the school. There will also be a multi-purpose athletic field and lots of parking.
The halls and staircases will be wide to accommodate students going up and down in the same staircase divided by a railing. (Apparently Valleyview currently has "up only" or "down only" staircases due to overcrowding.) There will be a teachers' workroom with copier on each floor and science lab on each floor. Special ed and small group instruction classrooms will be half the size of regular classrooms and placed next to each other with a sheetrock wall (rather than cinder block) so they can be converted to a full-size classroom in the future, if needed. Space will be provided for a kitchen, but it will not be outfitted with appliances at this time. The cafeteria will be sized to fit all the kids for one lunch, even though they probably won't all eat at the same time. An auditorium is NOT included in the design, but the gym is sized as a "gym and a half" with a stage at the end that could accommodate up to 1,500 people. The gym will have 3 sections with movable dividers (similar to the high school) and a separate entrance for after-hours access. The second floor will include a media center/library with computers in an adjacent room with a glass divider. The new school will be air conditioned. The cost of this school is expected to be $68-69 million, including the purchase of the property.
Following the architect's presentation, the Board members commented on the current conditions at the existing schools, and the fact that large pieces of land will not be available in the future if we don't build the school now. We're already out of space, and the number of students continues to rise.
Public Comments on the Building Design
The public comments were long and diverse. Nearly every member of the public commended the architect for a great design and presentation. Many people wanted to see detailed cost information, but the Board explained that until the design is tweaked in the next month or so for submittal to the state, the cost numbers are continually changing. The detailed cost information will be provided to the public long before the referendum in September.
Many people wanted to know why we weren't using the property on Nicole that the Board already owns. Mr. Bertram explained that the Nicole property has steep slopes and wetlands issues that may not provide enough buildable land when fully delineated. Mr. DeCesare believes we can continue to cram all the children into the existing schools, and he wants to see all the capacity data for our existing schools to determine whether there is a deficit. Many of the older attendees didn't understand the problem with 25 kids per class because they attended school with 40-60 kids per class. Many people were also concerned about the ongoing maintenance costs, including another principal, school nurse, etc., associated with building a new school. Carol Spencer wants a full build-out study for the town based on current zoning to understand how many kids we could get in the future so we don't have to build/expand again while we're still paying for this referendum. She also suggested looking at the Watts property on Zeek Road, which is flat and adjacent to the existing fields. She also wanted to know whether the school board is planning to implement full-day kindergarten once the space becomes available in the elementary schools. Mr. Grant questioned the demographers results, although Dr. Clark pointed out that they were only one student off for the 2007-2008 projection. He also felt that only 10-12 new classrooms are needed, so $68M is too much to spend. He suggested that the Board look again at Nicole Drive since the major growth in the town continues to be in that area. Several people also expressed concern that we haven't seen the full effect of the high school renovation and new municipal building in our tax bills yet, and this referendum would add even more to our taxes. Most people, however, recognized that we need to do something for the children.
Several parents expressed the realities of our schools today: fire hazard in the crowded halls, kids eating lunch at 10:15 am, kids in trailers from 8am-3pm, 25+ kids in a first grade class, etc. They reminded the crowd that the children are our future and our property values will go down if we don't maintain our reputation for good schools. We need to look long-term. A new school would be wonderful for our community.
Annual School Budget
Most people left after the design plans were discussed, but a few die-hard parents (myself and Jennifer Siino) stuck it out until midnight to hear about the proposed budget for the 2008-2009 school year. The Board managed to stay within the state mandated spending caps, and were still able to add many new teachers to our schools. The budget includes an additional 2nd grade teacher at Riverview, an additional 1st grade teacher at Lakeview (from 6 to 7 sections), an additional 5th grade teacher at Lakeview (from 5 to 6 sections), and possibly an additional 4th grade teacher at Lakeview (from 6 to 7 sections). The 4th grade teacher is only a possibility because they're watching the numbers and space constraints. An LLD 3-5 teacher at Riverview, a pre-K teacher at Lakeview, and a Resource Room teacher at Valleyview will also be added. In order to find space for these additional classes, partitions will be placed in the libraries at both Riverview and Lakeview for small group instruction. Riverview music will be moved to the multi-purpose room, and the Lakeview conference room will be converted to small group instruction. The library teacher may need to go to classrooms with a cart due to losing space in the libraries, although the details haven't been finalized yet. The budget also includes new furniture and computers for the new classroom spaces. For curriculum improvement, the current budget accounts for extending guided reading to the 4th and 5th grades (it currently ends in 3rd grade), and two math programs (calendar math and exemplars math) will be added for K-8. New computers, laptops, and additional smartboards are also included. For capital projects, the windows at Riverview will be completed and other work is still being considered, such as brick repointing, roof patching, Riverview soffets, etc. Despite all these additions, the annual percent increase is less than last year and under the state mandated caps.
Next Board Meeting
The next board meeting will be on Monday, February 11th at 7:30 pm.