<p>Forging a new future for the Tisbury School building was the subject of a working session Monday night with school and town leaders at the table.</p>
Forging a new future for the Tisbury School building was the subject of a working session Monday night at the Tisbury senior center.
With last spring’s failed school project now well behind them, school leaders, selectmen and the town facilities manager sat down to begin to sketch out a game plan.
A public opinion survey, a review of existing designs and studies and a new warrant article or articles for an upcoming town meeting are all on the table for discussion.
“I think it should be a co-sponsored article to show the town that we’re working together,” selectman Jimmy Rogers said.
“That would be awesome,” said school committee member Colleen McAndrews.
All who attended the meeting reviewed the school’s educational plan beforehand. The plan, written by principal John Custer and school staff, was originally drafted as part of the school’s unsuccessful process with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).
Selectmen asked whether there were areas in the educational plan that could be cut to save space and costs in a newly drawn plan.
“The bottom line for me is I’d like to develop a plan that we can present to the town that will garner 60 per cent support or more,” said selectman Melinda Loberg. “We don’t know for sure what project [the town] will support . . . The other thing that I don’t know . . is what is the core plan and what are things we have always said we want to have for our town or our students, but are not required.”
“Art, music, foreign language: not required. They’re wants,” Mr. Custer said. But he also said later: “I think those are the programs that make strong schools. If you look across the commonwealth and across the nation, schools that have these programs are stronger. Communities are proud of these schools.”
Nevertheless Mr. Custer and the school committee agreed to review the educational plan again to look for areas to trim.
Selectmen voiced support for a renovation/addition rather than a new building. Superintendent of schools Dr. Matthew D’Andrea said the town had already paid for a renovation design as part of the MSBA process.
“We have paid [the designers] a significant amount of money to put in front of us designs. They put a renovation/addition model ... that we ultimately did not select, but that we can go back to,” Mr. D’Andrea said. “I think that the money that was invested in that should be honored and respected, and we should take that design they put together for us, and we can revise it. We don’t have to play within the MSBA guidelines now.”
Mr. D’Andrea suggested hiring a designer to revise existing plans to fit within town constraints. Town administrator Jay Grande said there is some $70,000 left over from the MSBA design process, although the town would need voter permission to reallocate the money.
Selectman Tristan Israel suggested the school reapply for MSBA funding while they explore other options, but school committee members and fellow selectmen were unenthusiastic, citing the lengthy process and the limited likelihood of being accepted.
“What is the likelihood that town meeting is going to give us another $800,000 to go through the same process we already went through?” Mrs. Loberg said.
“I think that going down the route of MSBA probably is a long shot,” agreed school committee chairman Amy Houghton. “I would be in favor of us making a decision to move forward expeditiously on a plan.”
Mr. D’Andrea clarified that he has no intention of pursuing a regional middle school — a topic that surfaced during debate over the recent failed project, when some advocated for a regional middle school as a more cost effective way to educate Island children.
“I anticipate that Tisbury will need, or continue to need, a K-8 school,” Mr. D’Andrea said. “Right now I don’t see [regionalization] as something there is an appetite for.”
Most agreed on the need for a solution that addresses problems all together, especially as the school facility faces serious and immediate problems. Town facilities manager Kirk Metell outlined some of the most pressing issues, including a failed building envelope needing $3.1 million in repairs, ventilation and mold issues, and a gym roof that needs replacement.
The group agreed to devise a survey to poll townspeople on what kind of school building project they would support. Mr. Grande agreed to research how much added design work could cost, in order to set warrant articles.
The group meets again on Jan. 14.
Comments
Some facts I think need
Really?! TisburySome facts I think need clarification.
The MSBA process was not a failure, Tisbury was accepted into the the process and had enough people voted "yes" at the ballot, Tisbury would have received MSBA funding. More people voted "no" and thus no money. This is not an unsuccessful MSBA process. The money was Tisbury's to have, a majority of voter's turned down the plan for whatever reason... expense, design, preservation, it doesn't really matter, the money is gone.
Maybe we have all forgotten last spring, the Tisbury selectmen took no position on the projects stating they would leave it up to the voters prior to town meeting (see minutes published on the town website and related article in the papers), and only a few weeks later in a letter to the editor they voiced opposition to the plan.
One selectmen also wrote into the paper in April and pushed exploring regionalization as a reason for not supporting the plan put forth by the building committee. This is the same selectmen who sat on the building committee as the selectmen representative and waited until the time between town meeting and
town ballot to push this agenda.
It appears from this article that the selectmen have now read the educational plan that the School Building committee used as guidance for Reno/addition or Build new. If my math is correct that is a full 8 months after Town Meeting and the ballot vote. (let's exempt James as he wasn't elected yet). Since the educational plan drove the whole process, how is it possible our leaders never bothered to read it until now.
Also in this article it appears the selectmen voiced support for Reno/Addition. This was the more expensive option and now we don't have MSBA money available and interest rates have gone up. Some selectmen have openly voiced that the previous plan was too expensive (see minutes), but now are throwing support to the more expensive plan. Logic would suggest the only way to achieve a lower cost plan is to cut things out of the education plan. Maybe we can all nibble at the edges and find some things to give up, but we are talking about educating the next generations that will need to compete in today's/tomorrow's world. Let's follow this closely so we can all learn about the magic pot of money or alternate funding scenario there is in the Tisbury coffers to pay for a reno/addition that supports educating our future generations of taxpayers.
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