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Committee Discusses Tweaking Fruit Street Plan, Center School Project "We might get the grant but not the vote." Selectman John Mosher
by Muriel Kramer October 7, 2011 — The School Committee and the Board of Selectmen met last night in a joint session to discuss next steps concerning the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) grant of $14 million that was meant to support building a new PK-5 school at the Fruit Street property, that plan included districting grades K-5; the project failed to get necessary voter support at a Special Town Meeting and Special Town Election last March. The two boards are still working to develop the next steps for the project to improve, renovate and/or replace Center School. In a letter to the MSBA dated March 31, 2011, the School Department and Board of Selectmen wrote, “We intend to capitalize on the Community’s interest in facility improvements by conducting public forums, surveys, and listening sessions to better understand the community’s priorities specific to a project addressing the needs at Center School. From the information collected, we will develop a more detailed timeline and process for building consensus during the next six months.” Since that time the School Department also sent a letter dated August 16, 2011 to the MSBA inquiring as to whether the grant monies could potentially be used to support a re-purposed plan for a school at Fruit Street intended for PK-3. In part the MSBA responded on September 16th that “The District’s proposed changes are now contrary to those decisions previously approved by the School Committee, and the MSBA believes that the District must start with a review and definition of its educational objectives…Before the MSBA can provide further review, the District must present an updated and approved educational plan, one that has been the subject of community outreach and dialogue.” While members of the School Committee are actively working on a community outreach plan that includes public forums and regularly scheduled office hours, the combined groups discussed and decided to concurrently pursue options for capitalizing on the original grant. Both Senator Karen Spilka and Representative Carolyn Dykema independently had contacted the MSBA on Hopkinton’s behalf and helped set the stage for continued efforts to collaborate with the MSBA to capitalize on the grant opportunity received last February. The discussion to move forward in talks with the MSBA was complicated by the reality that the funding process is open now for new projects; Hopkinton may want to get a new project into that pipeline and no one seems sure that the MSBA process allows for more than one project at a time. Selectman John Mosher said, “We should start our community outreach sooner rather than later.” He asserted that we need detailed feedback and talking points to bring to the discussions with the MSBA. “I am looking at it from a community standpoint. People are asking.” The MSBA has expressed a willingness to continue talks, and the boards wrestled with the options—meet with the MSBA before a detailed plan is in place or develop the plan with community input and then meet with the MSBA. Selectman Brian Herr argued that it might be best to meet with the MSBA soon or even immediately then “use that feedback to chart a course.” Commenting that there “are deep wounds in the community,” he sees this as an opportunity “to set this thing straight” and begin healing those wounds. School Committee member Scott Aghababian shared his thoughts. “One of my concerns is that we’re moving conceptually down the path toward a hybrid building the town has already overwhelmingly rejected. My concern is we will lose the community.” School Superintendent Jonathan Landman made the point that the current grant only applies to a design for Fruit Street. The combined boards were unwilling to “shut the door” as many put it on the grant opportunity and ultimately decided to initiate a community outreach campaign and simultaneously work to set up a meeting with the MSBA, the State level representatives and both Boards in the very near future. While it will be a posted meeting for both Boards and thereby open to the public, it is likely the meeting will be held at Senator Spilka’s office in Boston. Supporting this approach, Aghababian commented that while the dialogue with the MSBA is great, “We need to get an understanding from them what level of flexibility there really may be.” Mosher worked to gain clarification, “Are we going back and tweaking what we think is in the realm of the original grant or re-working the whole thing? We might get the grant but not the vote. Committing ourselves to stay within the boundaries of the grant is not supported by what we heard from the community.” There was also some discussion of putting a new project into the grant funding pipeline particularly to include making necessary repairs at Elmwood. That process is open until January. There was general agreement that it was premature to decide to propose a new project for funding through the MSBA process. In an attempt to clarify for the community and perhaps ease concerns of voters on both sides of the issue, Brian Herr stated, “No decisions and no commitments have been made tonight….And we’re not going to make any decisions any time soon. I urge the community to relax.” The next steps at this point will be to 1) set up a meeting with the MSBA as soon as possible, probably to be held in Boston at the State House and to include both the School Committee and Board of Selectmen, 2) to initiate the community outreach plan with forums hopefully beginning this month and 3) develop and begin addressing a list of questions that must be resolved either with the MSBA, voters and/or Boards and Committees. In their meeting, the School Committee also addressed changes to the transportation policy receiving comments from resident, parent and business owner Mary Murphy on the policy during the public comment period at the start of the meeting. Murphy owns and operates Hooray for Books, a business that is directly affected by the bus policy, specifically the deadline in June to make any changes to drop-off routines. In the past Murphy has been able to build her enrollment during the school year, especially in January with kindergarten students gearing up for first grade. The current policy had a June 1st registration deadline, but Murphy has always been able to work within that and add occasional students through a flexible approach and interpretation by the business manager. That has changed this year. “Making it difficult for parents to attain care, or make changes/additions throughout the year is new and feels unreasonable. In the past, with this same policy, I was always able to add days of care or new children into the program with some email exchanges, good communication and a helpful attitude from the bus dept. at any point in the year. …this was not a case of Diane Potter doing favors. She worked with people to find solutions and never interpreted the policy as ‘it’s after June 1st- you are out of luck.’ Kids are new, families move, life changes, kid’s needs change…We are not asking to have children cycle in and out willy nilly. We are asking for some leniency with allowing families the ability to adjust as the year goes on and adjust our business as well. “Even though the bus comes here, I can’t add students,” Murphy continued. We do encourage parents to enroll before the deadline, but we need some give and take. The lack of flexibility is “hurting business owners, hurting taxpayers, hurting children and hurting families.” Murphy then proposed, “Because I am about finding win-win solutions, I propose the following changes to the policy: 1) A frozen window of time between Aug. 15-Sept. 10th when no changes will be permitted… and 2) From Sept. 10th on, children can be added on a discretionary basis with ample time for all to accommodate such changes.” The changes being considered last night were to change the registration deadline from June 1st to June 15th for bus pickups and drop offs to accommodate youngsters traveling to and from home, after school programs and/or daycare; the second change under discussion was to allow elementary school students to get off at different stops on their regular routes with parent permission. Despite comments against allowing students to get off at different stops on their own bus routes from all three elementary school principals on hand for the discussion, the School Committee ultimately voted to support the change. Additionally despite the comments from Murphy advocating for flexibility within the process and comments later from School Director of Finance Ralph Dumas that changes “to allow in and outs would be no skin off my nose,” no discussion to accommodate reasonable flexibility within the policy was entertained at the meeting. The School Committee did vote to support the change in the registration deadline to June 15th from June 1st. Clearly frustrated with the lack of discussion regarding her request for flexibility within the policy, Murphy made the point that “they (the School Department) never come to care providers to ask us.” For Murphy, this may likely mean laying off a teacher this year; her typical enrollment in years past has risen about 10 to 15 students in the year. Additional business: About ½ of the Center School gym floor damaged from flooding caused by Hurricane Irene will have to be replaced. Dr. Landman will be making regular appearances on cable television addressing a variety of topics beginning this month. The School Department is embarking on a $9,000 study to replace windows and doors at both Center School and Elmwood. The School Department is initiating efforts to update the five year strategic plan; they are in year three of the current iteration. Lastly efforts are underway to make online payments for lunch a possibility for parents, but there are many accounting and legal issues to resolve according to Dr. Landman.
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