Letter to the Editor from School Building Committee

Medfield MA

11 October, 2021

8:52 PM

Description

Letter to the Editor from the School Building Committee Dear Medfield Residents, On November 7, 2021 the attendees of the Special Town Meeting will be asked to vote to replace the Dale Street School with a new elementary school located behind the current Wheelock School on Elm Street. The Special Town Meeting vote will also appropriate and authorize the Town to borrow $62,293,668 of the total $82,000,000 project costs. The difference being paid for by a grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). As members of the School Building Committee (SBC) who have worked on this project for the past 2 and ½ years, we wanted to explain the background, decision-making process, and rationale for the project. A replacement school for grades 4 and 5 students has been on the town's long term capital plan for the past 20 years. The current Dale Street school is (mostly) over 80 years old and has major physical and educational deficits that have hampered the delivery of a 21st century education to our students. These deficiencies, as outlined in detail in the March 19, 2020 Preliminary Design Program (PDP), Section 3.1.4, beginning on page 144, can be found on the project website at http://www.tinyurl.com/mednewschool. The poor condition of the school was the primary driver as to why the MSBA accepted Medfield into the building assistance program in 2018 as one of only 13 schools of the 80 that submitted applications that year. The MSBA, which has funded over 1,167 completed projects since 2004, has a very effective but detailed process to assure that a community makes the most fiscally responsible, educationally appropriate decision in deciding the best option for their new or renovated school. The SBC, made up of educators, school building professionals, town officials, and community leaders, followed that process diligently in arriving at the unanimous decision to propose a new 95,828 sf school to house 575 students (the enrollment was determined by the MSBA) located on the campus of the existing grade 2-3 Wheelock School. That process involved 35 public School Building Committee (SBC) meetings (including numerous School Committee (SC) and Select Board meetings pertaining to the project) and 12 Public Forums/Community Conversations to gather public input. The selection process, which commenced after the designer was hired, has occurred over the past 23 months and included three strategic pauses – one due to Covid, one in the Fall of 2020 at the request of the Select Board, and one in response to the recent non-binding Town Meeting Article – to re-evaluate the decision. In the end, the analysis that led to the original decision did not change and the preferred option was advanced after unanimous votes of the SBC, SC, Select Board and MSBA Board of Directors. The SBC recognizes that the decision to locate the proposed school next to the grades 2-3 Wheelock School is the primary objection of the opponents to the new school. It's important to note that options on both the current Dale St. School site and the proposed Wheelock School Campus site were advanced to an equal degree until the final decision was made to move the Wheelock School Campus option forward in the design process. It is the opinion of the SBC that all options were thoroughly vetted regarding the four primary impacts: site; education; long-term planning; and costs. Concerning the site, the SBC felt overwhelmingly that the relatively open site at Wheelock offered much more flexibility in site planning than the very constrained site at Dale St. If the existing school were to remain, the much larger new school would be sandwiched in between the current Memorial School and the Dale St. School resulting in the need to relocate the current baseball and multi-purpose field offsite. Additionally, the larger massing of the new elementary school and close proximity to Adams St. would, in our opinion, be out of scale for the residential neighborhood and due to its limitations would not allow all school traffic to be contained within the site limits. Conversely, the site adjacent to the Wheelock School is relatively tucked away and generous. As the Wheelock School Campus borders fields and several open space parcels, it offers multiple recreational and nature-based educational opportunities. While the new site will mean added traffic, traffic studies indicate that the increase is manageable with the mitigation measures that will be implemented. Lastly, the selection of the Elm St. site opened the opportunity to significantly improve the current Wheelock School parking and circulation and will allow all incoming traffic to be handled within the site boundaries. Educationally, the SBC supported the Medfield School Committee and the teachers of Medfield who felt that the Wheelock site provided far better opportunities for teamwork and efficiency. Now, four grades (2 through 5) will be on one site to allow greater sharing of resources (particularly for Special Education) and more systemic collaboration. Also, by moving grades to 4-5 to the same campus as 2-3, we are eliminating one transition for our younger students – an often anxiety-inducing and emotional time for children. Aside from the educational benefits, the decision to locate the new school next to the Wheelock School opens exciting long-range opportunities for the town at the current Dale St. School which could occur without a debt exclusion. For example, while the current Dale St. School would require significant and intrusive renovations and additions to function as a 21st century school, it needs very little work to function as a permanent home for the Park and Rec Department – and a major upgrade to the current Pfaff Center. Additionally, it would for the first time allow P&R to offer programs for teens and young adults that would be a major benefit for our youth. (Note: The SBC has not made a recommendation on re-use of Dale nor has a final decision been made.) Also, by locating grades 4 and 5 adjacent to grades 2 and 3, we would have built-in flexibility to address future enrollment increases at four grades not available if grades 4-5 remained on our PreK -1 campus. From the very beginning, the SBC has been extremely concerned about the cost impact of a new school, at any location. Unfortunately, construction costs are expensive and trending higher. This is a trend in the industry that has been ongoing for the past ten years and shows no sign of abating in the near term, if ever. Fortunately, if the project passes, we will be able to take advantage of historically low interest rates. With costs in mind, the SBC and its consultants have been very active in ensuring the proposed school is as cost effective as possible. Our efforts have been successful in that we have developed a plan for a school which is the most efficient of the nine comparable elementary schools either recently completed or underway. While those cohort schools' range in size from 175 sf/ student to 210 sf/student, the proposed Medfield school is only 166 sf/ student. These cost control efforts will continue as the project moves through design and construction. It is important to note that citizens will be asked to vote either YES or NO on the new school the Wheelock site. A YES vote will authorize the new school to be completed at the Wheelock site and ready for occupancy by Fall of 2024. A NO vote will delay any new school by at least three years and will cost the town significantly more (in an uncertain interest rate environment.) It will also require the Town to undertake another feasibility study process (which, in total, has taken over 30 months), essentially the same as what we have just completed, should a new Statement of Interest be accepted by the MSBA at the end of 2022, the earliest possible date. Sincerely, School Building Committee Members Meet the members HERE