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05/30/2017 04:30 PMWith the Board of Selectmen (BOS) and Board of Finance (BOF) set to review the school utilization study on Wednesday, June 7, the Board of Education (BOE) is striving to answer questions and clear up any misinformation before that date. At the BOE meeting on May 23, the board addressed some financial aspects of the project, but mainly discussed the future of Island Avenue Elementary.
Madison’s discussion about a long-term plan for its public school facilities began 2 ½ years ago in response to growing concerns over declining enrollment, the age of the district’s buildings, and the need to ensure the buildings could support the structural vision of the district. The BOE settled on a five-school model (closing Island Avenue Elementary) in October 2016, but with the state budget crisis and growing concern over equity between elementary schools, the final arrangement within a five-school model had been a moving target. On April 18, the board voted to move one of three options forward to other town boards and ultimately the voters.
The board voted five to four on party lines under the Republican majority to move forward with Option Three, a plan to address a total rebuild of Ryerson Elementary School and a renovation of Jeffrey Elementary School over the course of two referenda, rather than Option Two, which would have addressed Ryerson and Jeffrey in the same referendum, or Option One, which involved a rebuild of Ryerson and a more gradual renovation of Jeffrey over a 10-year plan.
Under Option Three, a Ryerson project will be submitted to the state this year, but the Jeffrey project won’t be submitted to the state until 2019 and minor capital improvements will be completed at Polson Middle School over a 10-year period. This option is the most expensive and has a longer overall timeline, but does still address the concern of equity (all elementary students will have new schools under this plan) and could have some bonding advantages.
To complete Option Three, the total estimated project cost comes to $65.8 million with an estimated district share of somewhere between $55.2- and $59.4 million and would be divided between the two referenda. The first referendum would likely take place this fall for $33.2 million and the second would take place in 2019 for $32.5 million.
Renovation rates from the state are more difficult to nail down for this option. While the Ryerson project, if submitted to the state in June, would be subject to the 2017 reimbursement rate for new construction of 17.5 percent, rates are very likely to change after this year due to proposed legislation. If they do, Colliers International, the board’s project manager, is only estimating a 15 percent reimbursement rate from the state for renovations if a Jeffrey project is submitted in 2019.
The timeline under Option Three is also the most extensive. A new Ryerson would be designed and constructed from late 2017 through summer 2020 and the Jeffrey renovation would be designed and completed from summer 2019 through to summer 2022. Jeffrey would still be offline for two academic years, but the town and the district would not have to manage two construction projects simultaneously— possibly three with the E.C. Scranton Memorial Library renovation also on the docket for the coming years.
What About Island?
So what happens to Island Avenue School? At the BOE meeting, board members said the greatest concern amongst the public seems to be over the future of Island Avenue. If the referendums pass, students would not be moved out of Island Avenue and the school would not be closed until all construction is completed. However, if the referendum does not pass, board member Jessica Bowler said Island Avenue may still close.
“If in the end this plan is not approved either by the town boards or the referendum, the board would still look at consolidating students into the current Jeffrey and Ryerson schools and close Island Avenue to still address the declining enrollment,” she said. “I think the community needs to be aware that people seem to think that if they vote the referendum down that Island will stay open. We need to make it clear that we can’t promise that.”
Board member Alison Keating said the board still needs to keep in mind declining enrollment when it comes to Island. She said while closing Island and moving students into non-renovated schools is not ideal, Island is too costly to run for the number of students in the building.
“To run Island alone is roughly $1 million operational a year,” she said. “At some point enrollment might drop to 150 students in that school and would be fiscally irresponsible to keep all three schools open.”
Keating said there is also a financial advantage to the town if the board turns Island over.
“There is also the issue of revenue for the town from the Island property if it were to be sold,” she said. “It could potentially be around $3 million in revenue to the town plus $90,000 in annual tax revenue. The town is interested in this property and it is likely there would be a push to close Island.”
Once the BOS approves the resolution to move the project to referendum, the BOE moves into a “silent phase” according to Superintendent of Schools Tom Scarice. In accordance with state statute CGS 9-369b, the board cannot talk about the referendum in any form of advocacy capacity and only neutral explanation materials can be distributed or discussed. With the discussion timeline running out, Scarice said whatever happens moving forward, the “why” of the study will dictate what happens next in the district.
“I think it is important for the community to come back to the ‘why’ in all of this,” he said. “We can get wrapped up in what is happening and lose sight of the why. The why would guide a lot of what happens if the referendum didn’t pass.”
The Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance take up discussion on the School Utilization Study model at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 7, in Town Campus’s Madison Room.