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Gold questions SOI resubmission process

Date: 1/31/2011

Jan. 31, 2011

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

LONGMEADOW — The Select Board and School Committee both voted to submit Statements of Interest (SOI) to the Massachusetts School Building Association (MSBA) regarding Williams and Glenbrook middle schools, but the process was not without hiccups.

At an emergency meeting of the Select Board on Jan. 25, a motion to resubmit the SOIs was approved, 3-1, with Selectman Mark Gold delivering the negative vote after expressing displeasure in the process.

The School Committee convened afterwards and unanimously approved a motion to resubmit. Both the Select Board and the School Committee's approval were needed in order to send the SOIs to the MSBA.

The SOIs were resubmitted after they originally were turned down by the MSBA. The SOIs for the middle school were first submitted with the town's SOI for the high school.

According to Gold, the School Committee was informed on Nov. 17, 2010, that the town could resubmit the SOIs to the MSBA by Jan. 26, yet waited until the last minute to ask for the Select Board's approval at a Jan. 24 meeting.

Gold told Reminder Publications that at the Jan. 24 meeting, he pointed out several "errors and inconsistencies" were found in the documents, both of which are over 20 pages long.

Those errors included the SOI stating work that was already completed through capital improvement and other funding — such as replacement of asbestos tiles in the gymnasium, replacement of outer doors and windows and replacement of curtains that were deemed a fire hazard — still needed to be done.

Also, figures regarding student population at the schools were not consistent throughout the documents.

Gold also questioned why the Select Board was given such a short amount of time to examine the SOIs

"We saw these documents for the first time on Friday, the 14th of January," Gold said. "I can't in good conscience put my name on a document like this. There needs to be feedback and review. Instead, it seemed like the School Committee told us to just rubber stamp it with a gun to our heads.

"We need to stop writing our term papers the night before it's due. It's not the way I do business and not the way the Select Board should do business."

School Committee Chairman Armand Wray told Reminder Publications after the Jan. 25 meeting that there is no doubt that the process was flawed.

"I would say everyone agrees that the process wasn't where it needs to be. We did start the process off late. We probably lost a couple weeks in December with the holidays, but no excuses," Wray said. We're probably two to three weeks behind where we should have been and subsequently, information should have gotten out quicker. We've addressed that with the administration and hope to move forward now in a positive manner."

Because the errors needed correction, the Select Board held the Jan. 25 emergency session in order to review the corrections and vote on whether to approve the SOIs.

Superintendent Marie Doyle and Wray presented the updated SOIs to the Select Board and illustrated the changes, page by page, to the board.

Gold again raised his concerns about the process and its mismanagement.

While Select Board Chairman Rob Aseltine said the purpose of the meeting was not to extend that conversation, he did say that the Select Board and the School Committee should look into long-term planning for the schools, especially considering the amount of capital improvement funding that has already been used toward school building improvements.

At its meeting, members of the School Committee also voiced concerns over the way the SOIs were handled and agreed with Aseltine that a long-term plan for the schools was a necessary next step.



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