September 19th, 2006 Minutes
Present: Marguerite Willis, Robert Aeschback, John Taylor, Jennifer Williams, Chris Skelly, Donna Paley, Bill Yager, Ned Wolf Absent: Gerri Johnson , David Greenburg
Chair Bob Aeschback called the meeting of the Building Use Subcommittee (BUS) to order at 6:30pm. The meeting was held in the Central Office meeting room, at the Mohawk Middle School Wing.
This subcommittee reviewed the feedback from the Interim Planning Committee meeting.
The BUS contemplated whether the district had looked at being a PreK-12 district, discussed the reasons why pre-K programs existed, and discussed a PreK-3 school model.
Discussion on obtaining cost estimates – Marguerite to continue to work with Central Office to get feedback from the 3 schools yet to respond to our request for information in writing, Bill to provide BSE capital list and is working on cost estimates for flooring and skylights, John & Bill to locate a roofer to evaluate roof at BSE. Discussion on suggestion that the District needs to evaluate renovation options not only based on initial cost (i.e. “low bid”) but also consider the equipment’s life span, ongoing maintenance requirements, and installation cost.
The BUS looked at preliminary “room count” and “capacity” estimates for all schools. There was agreement that at this point a regional elementary school PreK-6 would be too large for any buildings, but a PreK-5 or K-5 model would appear to work. Cafeteria space appears to be a “bottleneck” or limiting factor for the schools.
Consensus is that “there is no clear solution”. Specifically cited was that BSE appears the most suited as a regional or consolidated school but it carries the most capital needs, whereas Sanderson and Heath appear to have least capital needs but lack space and/or are not in a central location. Further, there is consensus that we do not recommend facility additions or constructing adjunct buildings to “solve” the problem of over-capacity.
Data on usage discussed – Central Office uses 4 classrooms, Walnut Hill 6, and a proposed VocTech 2-6. The VocTech program appears best located at the high school.
More Town re-use options brought forth including: Sanderson a community gym/health facility, theatre and/or art school; Colrain a senior center, housing, or Town offices, Shelburne also interested in senior center.
We need clarification from Central Office on what numbers are used in the state’s “foundation budget” assumptions for class size, and if there is a minimum percentage of educational use (i.e. 1%, 10%, ?) required in a building to maintain state capital reimbursement.
The next meeting is posted for 09/25/06 at the Middle School.
The meeting adjourned at 8:35 pm.
Respectfully submitted, John E. Taylor
