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Date: 6/15/2021
GRANBY – The Granby Selectboard approved the school district to submit a letter of interest to the Massachusetts School Board Authority (MSBA) during their June 9 meeting in hopes of updating the high school.
The meeting began with members of the Granby school district joining Selectboard members to discuss submitting a statement of interest to the MSBA. Current Granby High School Principal and future Superintendent Stephen Sullivan said the statement had been drafted and needed approval from both the Selectboard and School Committee.
While Selectboard Chair Jennifer Silva initially said the statement was for construction of a new high school building, Stephen said he was unsure that a decision had been made yet. He said while the high school needed repairs, he was hoping to work collaboratively with both the MSBA and the town to do what was best moving forward.
Silva said while everything in the statement was “factual and correct” she said she wanted the district “to have the best chance possible with this,” and proposed telling more of a story within the statement. She referenced a statement of interest submitted for the West Street School in 2011 and said there was “a stark contrast” in the two letters.
Sullivan said the goal was to “answer the questions as clearly and concisely” as they could. “I just want to make sure we have the best possible chance for this,” Silva said. She then went on to read sections of both the 2011 letter and the draft before them to illustrate her point. Sullivan pointed out that those reading the letter would be contractors who would read it with a different scope.
Selectboard member Glen Sexton said he agreed with Sullivan that factual was best, but it might be beneficial and “wouldn’t hurt” to include a small backstory about the building. “What we really want to do is get in the pipeline and be heard and get what we need,” he said.
Sullivan said he didn’t disagree with Sullivan and was open to going back to add “a bit of a narrative in places” if that would be best. Silva questioned if the board should approve the draft during the meeting what changes, if any, would be made to the document. Sullivan said the only changes would be made to the narrative.
Town Administrator Christopher Martin then outlined the process and said if approved then the town would need to conduct a feasibility study, which could cost between “$700,000 to $1 million.” Martin said “nine times out of 10” when the contract from the MSBA is brought to Town Meeting, it would be a debt exclusion vote as it would likely increase people’s taxes. After some clarification, Martin said should the MSBA come to the town and require a feasibility study to be done, the proposal would then need to go before the Capital Improvement Committee.
Martin added that an additional struggle that Sullivan may have and may have “to fight against” would be the rating that was given to the building years ago that said it was in good condition. Sullivan said while they didn’t believe the high school was “the worst” they were hoping to start a conversation between the town and MSBA to see what could be done to improve the building.
"We don’t believe it’s the worst building in the world, it just has a lot of things that need to be taken care of,” Sullivan said.
He added that they hadn’t checked the box on the application marking the building unsafe. Sullivan said while he didn’t think the building was “structurally unsound,” there were many items in the building that needed to be renovated, updated and/or brought up to current code. Sexton said he felt it was good that they hadn’t checked the structurally unsound box as they didn’t want to “put anything out there that you have to defend.”
Silva said her “biggest fear” was addressing some of the issues and/or needed projects while they waited to hear back from the MSBA and then needing to redo the entire project. Sullivan said while he understood, he felt like they needed to address ongoing issues but not “putting a $100,000 Band-Aid” on the problems.
Ultimately, the board went on to unanimously vote in favor and approve submitting a statement of interest to the MSBA.
During the public comment portion of the meeting a resident suggested, for the sake of transparency, that the contracts for the police chief, fire chief and highway superintendent be posted on the town website after they were signed. He said after the documents were signed they became public records and posting them would help address some concerns that were brought up at the Annual Town Meeting. All three members of the Selectboard said while they weren’t opposed to the idea, they wanted to ensure it was done correctly and the website could accommodate the documents.
Later in the meeting when addressing old business, Sexton said they would begin the search committee for the new police chief beginning on June 10 and he would keep the board updated.