{"id":46716,"date":"2023-10-12T14:19:47","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T14:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=46716"},"modified":"2023-10-12T14:19:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T14:19:47","slug":"town-meeting-to-vote-on-modulars-at-dawson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2023\/10\/12\/town-meeting-to-vote-on-modulars-at-dawson\/","title":{"rendered":"Town meeting to vote on modulars at Dawson"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Ken Cleveland<\/em>
\nLandmark correspondent<\/em><\/div>\n

HOLDEN \u2014 The problem of too many students at Dawson Elementary School has been growing for several years, but a temporary solution will be presented to voters at a special town meeting set to start at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 16, in the Wachusett Regional High auditorium.<\/p>\n

The warrant has only one article: The appropriation of funds for modular classrooms at the school.<\/p>\n

Article 1: “To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, borrow, or transfer from available funds in the hands of the Treasurer a sum of money for the design, planning, and installation of modular classroom units at the Dawson Elementary School, including any ancillary costs related thereto, or act or do anything relative thereto.”<\/p>\n

The amount to be requested was still in flux as The Landmark went to press, as town officials calculated the variety of costs and options.<\/p>\n

The modular classrooms are not the final solution for the overcrowding, which has led to some classrooms with up to 28 students, Wachusett School Superintendent James Reilly said.<\/p>\n

The longer term plan would go through the regular budget process and could include more classrooms and all the other pieces needed for the school, where bathrooms have been an issue in past years as well.<\/p>\n

The classroom plan was not on the radar when budgets were put together and approved in the spring for the town and school.<\/p>\n

That changed in July. With the school wish list for more teachers approved in the school budget, the Dawson logistics became more complicated, Reilly indicated, and included plans for some teachers to use carts to move from location to location. The superintendent wants it more fast and ready, rather than permanent and with all the bells and whistles,\u201d Town Manager Peter Lukes said at meetings as the Board of Selectmen selectmen discussed the proposal.<\/p>\n

The current plan grew from a July meeting at Dawson, which Lukes said looked at using two modular units but with costs on the order of $400,000 just to lease them.<\/p>\n

He said he stressed he could not just write a check, noting the town meeting process that was needed.<\/p>\n

But things changed a bit thereafter.<\/p>\n

Reilly said that \u201cwe were provided with an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having identified approximately eight classrooms that were well above what their capacity should have been, some approaching 27 or 28 students and out of compliance with the School Committee policy, the schools sought more teachers. But, he said, \u201cat that point we did not have a high level of confidence we would be able to add the teachers in the budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reilly said modulars would cost more than $800,000 to buy and $400,000 to lease, so he planned not expecting he would have the needed teachers for extra classrooms.<\/p>\n

However, in a meeting with concerned parents, it was learned that used modulars might be available for a reduced price.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found two classroom units local used for one year, and the prices were substantially less. So we were looking at a lease number of approximately $160,000 instead of $400,000,\u201d Reilly said.<\/p>\n

That became an opportunity that could be worth pursuing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very unique opportunity where modulars were available a year earlier and at significant savings for the town,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Board of Selectmen was on board, although there were concerns about funding and the quick progress outside the normal budget cycle where the town could plan on the spending.<\/p>\n

In the end, Selectman Anthony Renzoni said, \u201cI\u2019m glad we\u2019re moving forward. We should count on this passing at town meeting\u201d and get preparation work done.<\/p>\n

Lukes told the board the sum requested could be in the range of $350,000, but that the ultimate project would be considerably more.<\/p>\n

The numbers to be presented to voters are still being discussed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ll be presenting our numbers to the Finance Committee Wednesday (Oct. 11),\u201d Lukes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still in progress because there may be multiple proposals that we could put forward. At this point it is more likely that the proposal will include bare minimum, since the WRSD has informed us that fast is more important than complete at this point,\u201d Lukes said after the selectmen had met.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy best guess is that the proposal will include the two classrooms and a covered transom from the modular rooms to the school. If we were to build the complete enclosed hallway with all the amenities, there’s no way it could be completed this school year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will look to go through the normal budget process in May, so that we’d fund and bid the full build after town meeting and over the summer recess,\u201d Lukes said, adding that the full build would include other components such as an enclosed hallway, sprinklers, added emergency exits and extended pedestrian paths.<\/p>\n

Lukes said the problem was that \u201cthe request was made after our budgets were all approved, so this is why we’re in this position now. The request was made after two new positions were created in the school budget for teachers although there was no classroom to put them in. And even then they were hired knowing that they didn’t have the space to put the two extra classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The special town meeting requires 153 registered voters for a quorum, according to Town Clerk Jeanne Hudson.<\/p>\n

Because the plan is to use free cash or the stabilization fund for the classrooms, Lukes said the vote requires a simple majority to pass. If borrowing were on the table, it would require a two-thirds vote.<\/p>\n

A longer-term solution to the school population crunch is another discussion and could involve other schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not at this time have any solid plan to build a new school, nor do we have data that indicates the need. We also don’t have a potential site or even a theoretical location,\u201d Lukes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFurther, we have not studied whether redistricting could work or whether we could have a specialty school at a low volume location such as Thomas Prince in which students could be enticed to leave an overcrowded school for another district school that has extra space. There are many more steps in the process that we should follow before embarking on a new school adventure,\u201d Lukes said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ken Cleveland Landmark correspondent HOLDEN \u2014 The problem of too many students at Dawson Elementary School has been growing for several years, but a temporary solution will be presented to voters at a special town meeting set to start at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 16, in the Wachusett Regional High auditorium. The warrant has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}