Town Begins to Look at Funding for Vinson-Owen

After months of planning, a feasibility study, public hearings and trying to put together building plans, it's now time for the town to figure out the cost and how to fund the Vinson-Owen School.

The School Committee showed up at Tuesday night's Selectmen's meeting to give the board an update of the costs and informed them of their intention to use the Parkhurst School as swing space.

"Our belief is that the only way a school can be constructed from a child-safety point-of-view and from a cost and schedule point-of view is to utilize the Parkhurst school as swing space," said Bob Deering of the Educational Facilities Planning and Building Committee (EFPBC). "If we didn't use the swing space then we'd build the school with the children on the site. Then the construction company would have to come back and any time they have to remobilize that's going to be an additional cost."

Considering this is an elementary school, the EFPBC along with the school committee, felt as though it would be better for the students and teachers if they were off-site when the new school was being built.

According to Deering the estimated cost of the project is $28,700,000. That number includes the new Vinson-Owen school with air conditioning throughout the school and the renovation costs of Parkhurst.

According to the School Committee, this project would need to be funded by either a debt exclusion or a general override vote. The Massachusetts School Building Association (MSBA) will meet in November to approve the VO project. Once the town receives approval they will have 120 days to find a funding source. The school department believes the town would need to pay $18 million towards the construction project.

If all goes according to plan, the Parkhurst renovation project will begin February 2011 and be completed by the following September. The new school will then begin its construction in September 2011 and it's expected it will take 24 months before Vinson-Owen is completed.

But that is only the first of two major projects the school committee has in front of them. They have also begun planning a feasibility study that will be done on the high school. However, Superintendent William McAlduff informed the board that while they have started to look at the high school, the two projects will not coincide.

Since the high school project is much bigger the whole process, the project, including the feasibility study, will take much longer than the VO project.

"It's important to note that the high school project is a much larger, more complicated project," McAlduff said. "The study along could take six or eight months to approve, then the MSBA has to approve. The VO design took about two months to complete, while the high school could take up to six months, which would take us into 2012.

"We're not looking at a situation where we need to fund Vinson-Owen in 2011 and then come back six months later looking to fund the high school. It's reasonable to say the two projects would be 18 months apart."

The feasibility study is tentatively scheduled to begin in February 2011 and be completed by October of that year. If the feasibility study is to begin in February there must be an override vote by the end of January. It's estimated that a feasibility study could cost approximately $1.3 million.

When asked about the potential cost of a new high school by Selectmen Brian O'Connor, Deering estimated the school could cost around $65 million.

Another concern O'Connor raised was with Parkhurst. After the town spends approximately $1 million to renovate it he was curious as to what happens with the school.

According to McAlduff, Parkhurst could become very useful to the town. He suggested the school department could relocate their offices to that building, and in doing so it can free up an additional five classrooms at Lynch School.

McAlduff also explained how the town could lease the building out to various other organizations.

"This is an opportunity to get income from leasing the building," McAlduff said. "In doing this we're providing an investment in this facility."