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Date: 11/30/2022
HAMPDEN/WILBRAHAM – Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD) has identified nearly $11 million in capital needs for fiscal year 2024 (FY24), said Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources Aaron Osborne.
Osborne presented the 10-year capital plan to the School Committee at its Nov. 17 meeting at Wilbraham Middle School. The list for the upcoming fiscal year was prioritized with many safety and security needs in mind, although connectivity and technology are also recurring needs.
The list for Mile Tree Elementary School totals approximately $524,000. Replacing window treatments in classrooms will help with security by blocking people outside the building from seeing where students and faculty are located. There is also an insulation benefit, making classrooms more energy efficient.
The plan also calls for the entire district to move to a phone system that runs on a central hub-and-spoke model. This will allow buildings to seamlessly contact each other in an emergency.
Osborne said the building requires new gutters, which are original to the building, to keep water from damaging the walls and mold from growing. A tie-in to the town’s sewer is not an immediate need but would limit long-term maintenance and capacity issues with the school’s septic system.
Items that are not necessarily safety related include a gym divider, a storage unit replacement and network switch upgrades.
Stony Hill Elementary School’s list also calls for window treatments and phone upgrades. Additionally, new classroom technology is needed to keep the district on a one-to-one model of technology integrated instruction. One of the most expensive items on the list is a generator for the school, which Osborne said is prone to outages during storms. As a benefit to the town, a school with a generator can be used as a shelter in emergencies. The school’s estimated capital needs total is $401,400.
Soule Road Elementary School is among the highest cost estimates, at $2.78 million. A sizable portion of that is $1 million to replace windows for security, energy efficiency and building integrity, as the windows may allow for water to infiltrate the building. With a price tag, comes the requirement to complete upgrades, bringing the building in compliance with the Americans with Diasabilities Act (ADA).
Osborne said the school also needs work done on the parking lot and exhaust stack that lets water into the building. Other items include classroom technology, wireless access points and a generator.
Thornton W. Burgess School has six items on its list, totaling $889,000. This includes asbestos abatement, parking lot lighting, and security cameras. The connectivity items on the list are network switches, wireless access points and a phone connected system.
At Green Meadows School, the replacement of floor tiles and work on the kitchen floor and doors were identified as being needed. Replacing the phone system and classroom technology was also listed. The $263,625 price tag would also cover repairs to the parking lot and an extension of the fire road, providing emergency access to all sides of the building.
Wilbraham Middle School also requires the replacement of doors and windows, which are estimated to cost $1 million of the school’s $2.85 million total. Another item is the replacement of asbestos floor tiles. While Osborne said the mineral is not airborne, and therefore not a direct threat to health, removing them requires special care.
As with other schools, classroom technology and wireless access points are listed, as are projectors. School Committee member Patrick Kiernan asked why the district is using projectors instead of another, less expensive technology, such as TV screens. Osborne said that the word “projector” was a stand-in for whichever technology was best suited. While TVs could be used, he noted that many projectors have interactive components and smart boards are also an option.
A generator is also requested for this school. One item not related to safety and security is the replacement of auditorium seats.
While a camera system upgrade is listed as a capital project, Osborne said there is “some urgency” around installing cameras in areas not currently able to be surveilled. For that reason, the district may install cameras at those locations and pursue the camera system upgrade later, he said.
The final school on the list is also the most expensive. Capital expenses at Minnechaug Regional High School (MRHS) are expected to cost between $3 and $4 million. The installation of safety glass on the second-floor railings is an ongoing safety concern, Osborne said.
Air conditioning split units also made the list, with some replacements needed and units added to other classrooms that are without them.
In addition to wireless access points, projectors and classroom technology, Osborne said computers for the digital music classroom were on the list. The CAD classroom received new computers last year, he noted. An upgrade of the camera system at MRHS is also on the list.
Kiernan suggested the district approach the Boosters about funding the high school’s scoreboard.
Play structures that adhere to the ADA were on the list for the district’s elementary schools. For these, Kiernan recommended requesting the funds from the towns’ respective Community Preservation Committees. The equipment would qualify as recreational and would be eligible for Community Preservation Act funding.
Osbourne warned that he does not expect the towns to fund all the items on the list, but health, safety and security measures are a priority. School Committee member Sean Kennedy noted that Wilbraham only has about $1 million per year for all its capital expenses, including those in the school district.
School Committee member Bill Bontempi said the district should consider the restructuring of the district that was called for in the Strategic Plan before using money to upgrade schools that may not be used in the future. He asked the Strategic Planning Committee to obtain community feedback on restructuring.
Special education costs
Capital expenses are not the only financial challenge facing HWRSD as the district enters budget season. Reminder Publishing asked Osborne how the district plans to tackle an expected 14 percent increase in out-of-district special educations costs.
“There are no easy answers,” Osborne said. “We’ll have to look at the increases alongside our other costs and figure out how to make it work.”
Transportation tracking
Superintendent John Provost said the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative, which provides bus transportation to HWRSD and six other member municipalities, will be updating its software and hardware to allow parents to track school buses and see when their child arrives at school or back home. The system will begin switching over in February 2023 and complete the transition by fall 2023. The change comes at no direct cost to the district.