Billerica's Parker School should be replaced now

Mike L wrote:

Merlin,
My big gripe was for a little more money (or mabye even the same), they could have made it big enough to replace the Vining as well. Since that would eliminate at least a dozen full time positions as well as the operational costs, I think that was not in the best interest of those that leach off the town be them employees or suppliers.
If this overide was approved, I would expect them to fund the $50M to fix the rest of the neglected buildings within budget, even if it took several years to do this. No way would I vote for another overide. HOWEVER, I don't think they can build a new school AND repair all the others without any type of overide, do you?

Merlin wrote:

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Before you start quoting numbers you should do your homework. The $22 million option was for a 400+ student school (real capacity about 500). The committee had to go back and convince the MSBA that they needed a $34 million 5oo student school (real capacity 600+)– they convince the MSBA that we had overcrowding at our other schools (as you stated) and needed a larger school. According to the MSBA--- because they allowed the larger school they will not approve any more additional projects dealing with our other elementary schools.

Merlin wrote:

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You do not know what you are talking about. We built the 800 Student Ditson for $17 million, Concord built a ~500 student school in 2006 for about $20 Million. The $22 million option was for a 400+ school. The MSBA approved the $34 million 500+ student school because that is the only option provided to them. The committee had to go back and confince the MSBA to approve the $34 million option. They would have just as soon approved the $22 million 400+ option (never presented to them or Town Meeting)-- the fact is the larger school decison was made in early spring -- before we even had estimates on future school populations.
This about forcing a 2 1/2 override so the corporate town and school can get a new school for free. Only the Taxpayers get the shaft. Municiple Unions are protected and things can continue -- business as usual.

Growin Up wrote:

Again.....The MSBA never "recommended" a $22M school. A $22M school, by the state's / MSBA's standards, would house 225 students. The current Parker School houses 397 students. The project would NOT qualify for reimbursement at $22M. A "larger school", designed at a plus up of 100 students, would allow the town to redistrict a bit. This would alleviate overpopulation at the other elementary schools. As for "extras", computer, language and art rooms are all standard in today's elementary schools. I suppose you could consider a computer room extra if you did not have one in elementary school. However, I believe that, and I think we should all be able to agree here, computer skills are essential in today's world....as are language skills. The gym and cafetorium are built at an acceptable scale. They'll also be available to the whole town. I hope that people vote on this issue based on fact, not based on the fear-mongering tactics being used by a select few. The 5.5% increase in taxes is completely erroneous. It'll be $50-$100 per year for 20 years and the amount will go down for each of the 20 years.

Waste wrote:

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Please show me your source for this information? I reviewed all the committe meeting minutes and there is one reference to a $22M figure and that value was later presented as a early estimate and did not include any furniture and building equipment.
I was curious about price and did a search on recent new schools in Massachusetts. The numbers are similar when compared to new Parker. If you search new schools outside of Massachusetts, you see the issue this state has with labor costs and other things, but that is a state issue, not at town level.

Merlin wrote:

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According to the MSBA statement in the Lowell Sun they would have approve a $22 million dollars option. The comment is that most Towns do not want to leave any money on the table -- so the go for the biggest school the can. Your being used as a tool and apparently cannot take the time to get the real facts.

Think about it wrote:

The amount of untrue statements on these boards is shocking. I truly hope that the voters are reviewing true facts when making their decision on November 21st. A $22M school was never an option as it would not house the existing population at the Parker today. As someone else mentioned, purchasing additional land is non reimburseable by the state so would only cost the town even more money in the long run. Also, I agree that computer rooms, art and music rooms should not be considered "extras" - when I went to school (in the 70s) I had both a music and art room) while my children today do not have a dedicated room for either which is a shame. A one floor school does not make sense, do you realize how large that school would be and how much the cost of land for such a school would be (which is non reimburseable by the state)? This is not a taj mahal folks, it's a functioning updated school for 500 children that so desperately need it.

Growin Up wrote:

...and from the April 29, 2009 minutes...
J. Seeley stated that although this is a nice size lot, there are significant limitations. There are significant wetlands to one side and three smaller wetland bodies which are hydralogically
connected. Therefore, the use of this site is severely limited. There would need to be a long drive into the site, which would cross a drainage culvert, with the majority of the parking
being to one side of this culvert. A little less than 5 acres is available to build on. B. Wittenhagen noted that this property is in the Kennedy School district, which borders the Ditson. S. Infanger noted that there may be contaminated soil due to previous work done on
Like it or not, several building & site options were vetted, by the Committe and by the MSBA. ALL of this was done in open meetings. Nothing was done behind closed doors.
this site.<quoted text>

Growin Up wrote:

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I, and many other people in Billerica, have invested a lot of time in this issue. Were you at any of the school building committe meetings? Community meetings? Selectman's meetings? I, along with many other people, were at all of them. Wer you at the Selectman's meeting when Mr Rosa tried to twist the perspective Project Manager's words? Probably not. That's where this $22M school topic got started. It's also where it was put to rest.
Perhaps Merlin should have been paying attention, instead of using his "powers" to muddy the waters on this issue.
Have you missed the part about ALL of our elementary schools, except for the Ditson, being overcrowded? That's why the size of the new Parker was edged up to 500 students.
Did you miss the part about ALL of the town's COMPASS students being at the current Parker School? Did you miss the special education teacher's comments to the selectmen about her students not even having the proper bathroom facilities, as in to be taught proper bathroom procedures?
Keep casting your aspersions, maybe someone will listen.

Merlin wrote:

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If you read the minutes then you know that the committe decided not to talk about the option they really were persuing (500 student option) and decided to dicussed in Spring Town Meeting only the option as a 400 student solution. They continue that deception through the entirity of Spring Towm Meeting. They knew that after that point we would have gone so far through the MSBA process with their hidden 500 student solution requiring a 2 1/2 override that they would have lock that option into the process and by the time Fall Town Meeting occurred it would be to late to effect any change. So, they painted the people of Billerica into a corner with an all or nothing solution. But, the MSBA stated that they would accept a 400 student solution. The 500 student solutiion was not dictated to us by the MSBA they just approved what the committee demanded. The object of the committee was not leave any potential money on the table -- as the MSBA spokesman has stated. Take the time to read all the minutes.

Sparrow wrote:

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I do not know what school you went to while attending elementary school. But, normally you do not want to move elementary school students all around the school to different classrooms. There is no reason at all for a computer room. The have a full size gym with seating, a cafetorium, computer room, music room and language room. When I went to school the cafetorium was also the gymnasium. The tables and seating were built in and stored while being used as a gym. We did music in the class. We did not have a separate language class. Computers did not exist.
Most kids, by the time they enter school already know how to use the computer and can touch type on the keyboard. I remember my son taking what was called a computer course at the Marshall Middle School – it was a typing class taught by the ex –typing teacher. It had nothing to do with computers because the instructor was computer illiterate. The kids had websites before the teachers even knew what they were.

Merlin wrote:

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Before you start quoting numbers you should do your homework. The $22 million option was for a 400+ student school (real capacity about 500). The committee had to go back and convince the MSBA that they needed a $34 million 5oo student school (real capacity 600+)– they convince the MSBA that we had overcrowding at our other schools (as you stated) and needed a larger school. According to the MSBA--- because they allowed the larger school they will not approve any more additional projects dealing with our other elementary schools.
I disagree that the computer, language, music and art rooms are standard for elementary schools. You do not know much about elementary education. One thing you try not to do, is to round up elementary school age children and walk them through the halls to different classes around the school. The Gym is a full size Gym with seating – again not usually seen in elementary schools.
The school committee, school department and Town are not that interested in the children – if they were they would not have let the infrastructure fall into such disrepair. This is about moving the cost of a new school outside of the budget and our debt limit – so it is free to the Corporate Town.
Unemployment just went to 10.2% the highest in 28 years – taxes are rising, our economy is in shambles things are going to get worse, not better. The student population is going down, not up. We should be looking at a school that adequately meets our needs and not significantly exceeds our needs. Because, the MSBA approved the larger school we will not be able to get matching funding for any other project dealing with our elementary schools – however, if we had pursued the $22 million 400+ student school, we could have gone back to the MSBA with another project if needed. But, now we are stuck with no alternatives for the future -- but to fund the entire amount.

Voter wrote:

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Again... where is the proof to your statements. I went through the committee meeting minutes and no where is your statements even mentioned. If you are against the school, please do so with facts no inaccurate information.

Think about it wrote:

The amount of untrue statements on these boards is shocking. I truly hope that the voters are reviewing true facts when making their decision on November 21st. A $22M school was never an option as it would not house the existing population at the Parker today. As someone else mentioned, purchasing additional land is non reimburseable by the state so would only cost the town even more money in the long run. Also, I agree that computer rooms, art and music rooms should not be considered "extras" - when I went to school (in the 70s) I had both a music and art room) while my children today do not have a dedicated room for either which is a shame. A one floor school does not make sense, do you realize how large that school would be and how much the cost of land for such a school would be (which is non reimburseable by the state)? This is not a taj mahal folks, it's a functioning updated school for 500 children that so desperately need it.

Think about it wrote:

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Fair question, Mike, however the New Parker School committee is not made up 100% by educators. The list of members is below. I don't know many of them personally but assume that they were not school related when appointed . I would imagine that over the 2+ years involved in this, they may have become "biased" but anyone with an opinion is biased if you think about it.
Robert Accomando (Selectman)
Vincent Amato (Moderator Vining appointee)
Frank Antonelli (School Department)
Marie Blanchette (School Committee)
Bob Casey (Planning Board)
David Creesy (School Department)
John Gray (Moderator appointee)
Alexander Infanger (Chair)(Moderator appointee)
Mike Kinney (Building inspector)
Kathy Paulson (Finance Committee)
Anthony Serio (Superintendent of Schools)
Celine Swinford (Moderator appointee)
Barbara Wittenhagen (Parker School Principal)

Voter wrote:

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Very true, but would the new fire station be getting state money for more than half and have to follow the state's process. In the case of the parker school, the MSBA decided the process. If you search internet for the MSBA and what other cities/towns are doing for new schools, you will see Billerica is following same process and rules.

Merlin wrote:

The Billerica School Building committee chose to pursue the highest cost option ($34 million), building a school that significantly surpasses the scope of a replacement project. There was a $22 million option that still exceeded the scope of a replacement project but, would fall within the debt limit of the Town and thus, would not require a 2 1/2 override. This option was not presented to Town Meeting or the Board of Selectman.
At least eight of the thirteen members of the Building Committee are employees of the Town and/or School, do business with the School department, or have relatives that work for the School Department. The people of Billerica did not get an unbiased and independent assessment of our needs.
The reason the $22 million option was not presented was that it could have been financed within the Town debt limit. Think about it -- with the more expensive option it ends up being free to the Town and School -- leaving the Taxpayers holding the short end of the stick.
The economy is getting worse, seniors on fixed income are not getting cost of living increases, people are losing their jobs at an alarming rate, state funding to Towns is declining -- yet, the Committee has force upon the people of Billerica a Parker School solution that is nearly twice the capacity we need and forces us into a 2 1/2 override for debt exclusion. They have put the People in a position of having to accept their expensive solution or risk losing State funding. Do you see anything wrong with this picture?
The School committee announced in Town Meeting their intention to pursue another $50 million school renovation project once the Parker School construction is completed. This would require another 2 1/2 override for an even a larger amount.

Growin Up wrote:

Again.....The MSBA never "recommended" a $22M school. A $22M school, by the state's / MSBA's standards, would house 225 students. The current Parker School houses 397 students. The project would NOT qualify for reimbursement at $22M. A "larger school", designed at a plus up of 100 students, would allow the town to redistrict a bit. This would alleviate overpopulation at the other elementary schools. As for "extras", computer, language and art rooms are all standard in today's elementary schools. I suppose you could consider a computer room extra if you did not have one in elementary school. However, I believe that, and I think we should all be able to agree here, computer skills are essential in today's world....as are language skills. The gym and cafetorium are built at an acceptable scale. They'll also be available to the whole town. I hope that people vote on this issue based on fact, not based on the fear-mongering tactics being used by a select few. The 5.5% increase in taxes is completely erroneous. It'll be $50-$100 per year for 20 years and the amount will go down for each of the 20 years.

Billerica Resident wrote:

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I am so shocked at some people. Yes, Taxes go up. Amazing! We get great services in this town and pay a fraction of the taxes that towns Abuting us pay so lets all stop acting like we are getting reemed with Billerica taxes because we are not!