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Date: 3/24/2016
EAST LONGMEADOW – The School Committee discussed a draft statement of interest (SOI) to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for East Longmeadow High School (ELHS)?that outlines the needs for the building.
This is the third year in a row the district has submitted an SOI. The previous two proposals were denied by the MSBA.
Superintendent of Schools Gordon Smith said the SOI focuses on three priorities for building a new high school or renovating the existing building.
These priorities include preventing the loss of accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, a replacement, renovation or modernization of school systems such as roofs, windows, or boilers to increase energy conservation and decrease energy costs, as well as a replacement of an obsolete building in order to “provide for a full range of programs consistent with state and local approved requirements,” Smith said.
The Board of Selectmen previously endorsed the SOI at its Feb 29 meeting and have supported the idea during the past two years as well.
School Committee member Deidre Mailloux asked Smith how parents could become involved in advocating for the MSBA to accept the project.
“Just discussion and support is helpful,” Smith noted. “However, their participation is not going to necessarily sway the MSBA in accepting us. If we’re invited in, and I’m hoping that’s a very strong possibility now that we’ve had some really good contact with the [MSBA], the parent group is crucial to the success.”
Smith said if the district were invited into the MSBA’s building program, the decision to move forward with the program would rest in the hands of the townspeople.
“Do you want to support the feasibility study that [the MSBA] is going to ask of us?” he noted. “When that’s done, do you want to support what the final recommendation is be that a comprehensive renovation, a new building, an addition, [or] whatever that may be?”
Reimbursement for the project by the MSBA would start once the project is accepted, Smith explained. The town would have to pay for a feasibility study, but would be reimbursed immediately. The MSBA typically reimburses at a 50 percent or more rate.
“We don’t have a revenue stream like that in any other process,” he noted.
ELHS has an outdated electrical system that has reached its maximum capacity, Smith said. The building was constructed in 1960 and is approximately 74,000 square feet with a student body of more than 800 students.
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