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Joint Meeting of the Board of Selectmen and School Committee, December 19, 2005
A. Joint Communication to Town Residents - committee members pointed out that it would be valuable to help residents, especially those new to town, understand processes in town and roles of different committees. No formal decisions were made though all agreed that the other four schools should be urged to offer the Loker PTO format mentioned below. Suggestions were made for vehicles of joint communication such as:
- letters to the Town Crier, presentations/forums such as the recent Finance Committee Forum but with Board of Selectmen, School Committee and Finance Committee participating
- Town Meeting (TM) Frequently Asked Questions handout
- prior to Town Meeting, having a forum to discuss TM process and issues to be addressed at TM including warrants
- the Town Meeting Study Committee (formed to make recommendations to improve attendance at Town Meeting) suggested a "State of the Town" address w/perhaps the Board of Selectmen, School Committee and Finance Committee participating (note: the School Committee would participate since it represents such a large portion of the town's budget). To see the full report on the committee's findings go to http://www.wayland.ma.us/tmstudygrp/index.htm
- a mention was made of a potential model for communicating with residents: the Loker PTO will be hosting an informational forum for it's membership on an evening in late January. Joe Nolan (BoS), Heather Pineault (SC) and Cherry Karlson (Fincom) will present on the budget process, where we are at that point, next steps and how residents can let officials know how they feel. A Q&A session will follow. Dinner and childcare will be provided.
B. High School Space Needs - A discussion ensued about two issues of the High School space. The sentiment seemed to be that a long-term plan is needed to address all needs and that the School Committee should avoid spending too much on short-term needs since the long-term plan is not definitive. However, it is clear that the physical plant needs to be maintained and some spending will need to be made.
- NEASC (New England Association for Schools and
Colleges Accreditation) has
issued a letter of serious concerns about the
physical HS plant that threaten the HS accreditation and must be addressed in
the short term. All of the problems have been pointed out during the High
School Building Committee efforts over the last few years. The problems are
sufficiently serious that quick action is required. The Town has until April
1st to provide a plan of how the problems will be addressed (in less severe
situations, the town would have more time). Problems include: severe
overcrowding, outdated and aging condition of science labs, lack of space for
full school assemblies, inadequate infrastructure for technology, inadequate
plumbing and electrical infrastructure, corridors that are narrow and below
code resulting in egress that is compromised in an emergency, lack of
handicapped accessibility to certain areas, failure to meet all applicable fed
and state laws and maintain compliance with fire, health and safety
regulations. To see a detailed summary of the problems, you can review the
NEASC report. These severe problems cannot be solved by simple building
maintenance. Engineers and other experts will need to be consulted and money
will need to be appropriated for this. In 2002 when the engineers and
architects were working on the options for our High School, they estimated
that just bringing the HS up to code without addressing the overcrowding
issues, would cost approx $12 million.
This number should be
taken in context, however: with cost escalation, fully addressing code issues
would likely cost considerably more. On the other hand, addressing only the
most critical NEASC issues could cost less.
If a plan to resolve the issues is not put in place or if progress on the plan
is not demonstrated, accreditation will be threatened (note: every public high
school in Massachusetts is currently accredited.)
- A Long-Term Plan is needed for the High School - either a new facility, or major renovations or some combination of that - The High School Building Committee and School Committee have put planning on hold based on two major factors: the last vote and the flux in the state's School Building Administration (MSBA) reimbursement plans. The short story is that the MSBA will come out with new design regulations in January 2006 which will be finalized in June 2006. The process for reimbursement from the state is expected to start up again no earlier than July 2007.
C. Strategies to Leverage Additional State Aid - committee members discussed advocating at the state level in a joint manner (School Committee, Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee) for increased local funding. Suggestions were made to work with existing bodies such as Suburban Coalition, MA Municipal Assoc (MMA), and others as they already have a system in place and it would be a stronger presence with more towns. There was a recent meeting with Representative Pope and Senator Brown, who suggested that the town should wait until the end of January to have any type of meeting with legislators. It was also pointed out that a larger commercial base would help defray some of the shortfalls in state aid.
D. Opportunities for Shared Services Between Towns and Schools - It was agreed that Fred Turkington, Wayland's new town administrator, will look into models in other towns where there is a central facilities department to manage all town and school buildings as well as central technology departments. Currently, the schools facilities management is separate from the town as is IT.
E. Disposition of Parcels Under School Committee
Jurisdiction - the town as a whole is looking at the possible sale of unused
land. The schools own two parcels of unused land (one is a 14-acre parcel at
Alpine; the other is a
similar sized parcel at Orchard Lane).
Due to the late hour, the committees decided to defer this discussion.
Submitted by Lisa Valone