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Date: 8/10/2022
HAMPDEN/WILBRAHAM – The breakdown of the fire alarm system at Stony Hill School in the last week of the school year has left an unexpected capital expense for the Hampden Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD).
Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources Aaron Osborne delivered the news to the HWRSD School Committee on Aug. 4 that the fire alarm system at Stony Hill School had failed in June. The school employed a fire watch, as required, for the week that students remained in the building.
The district put the project out to bid with the stipulation that the work be completed by Sept. 30. To avoid having students in the building while work is being performed, the crew will have to work outside of normal hours, for which they are paid more. The work will also require updates to meet changes to the code over the past few years. The district received two bids for the fire system replacement, the lowest of which was about $157,000.
School Committee member Bill Bontempi suggested relocating the students and teachers to Thornton W. Burgess School to cut down on the project’s cost and time. Osborne later told the Wilbraham Board of Selectmen that to move everyone there and back would cost $50,000, and therefore it was not a viable option.
In the fiscal year 2023 budget, Wilbraham had appropriated $30,000 for a new fire panel. Now that the alarms, wiring and gas system need to be replaced, that money will go to the replacement. Bontempi pointed out that the district is only responsible for the first $25,000 of the project under the regional agreement and Wilbraham must pick up the rest since it is a town-owned building.
Osborne told the Wilbraham Board of Selectmen at its Aug. 8 meeting that Town Administrator Nick Breault had identified $62,000 that had been appropriated by the town for capital projects but gone unused. He asked that it be repurposed for the fire system. Such a move would require a vote at the fall Special Town Meeting. Wilbraham Finance Committee Chair Marc Ducey suggested that a reserve transfer could cover the remaining amount until the vote could be taken.
Green Meadows School Choice
Osborne presented a suggestion from himself and Green Meadows School Principal Sharon Moberg to add two school choice seats to each of the two kindergarten classes at that school. This would bring the class sizes to 16 and 17 students. The district receives $5,000 for each school choice student it educates.
Bontempi asked about the district reconfiguration in the strategic plan, now in the later stages of development. He expressed concerns that an influx of students moving into the district over the next few years might swell the class sizes and was hesitant to take on students who live out of district. Osborne said that even with the additional students, the high school is unlikely to surpass 1,000 students by the time the kindergarteners reach ninth grade.
“I think it would be a great way to round it out and increase parity [between schools], and bring in revenue,” School Committee Secretary Sean Kennedy said.
Bontempi disagreed. “We need to take care of the kids in our district first,” he said.
Kennedy repudiated the statement, saying, “School choice kids are our kids.”
Bontempi then stated that 200 school choice students in a 900-student high school body would “change the flavor” of the district.
“Sometimes for the better,” Kennedy pushed back. Bontempi said taxpayers may prefer their money to go to educate students who live there. He also said that eventually, the district would be more than 50 percent school choice, but Kennedy reminded him that the Massachusetts Association of Regional School Districts estimates the enrollment decline would “even out” by 2027.
School Committee member Patrick Kiernan brought up the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO), a voluntary integration program, as an alternative to school choice. Osborne explained that METCO would bring in more money per student, but it would require “drastically” more students be accepted into HWRSD. Osborne said he would prefer incremental increases, but METCO could be an alternative if the committee decided so.
The committee voted 4-3 to approve the four additional students.
Parking Fees
Minnechaug Regional High School (MRHS) Principal Steve Hale suggested the School Committee reduce the parking fee from $80 to $60 per year. Earlier this year, students chose to address school parking fees for their civics project and approached Hale with research and a request to reduce the fees. He said the parking revolving fund, which pays for crack filling and general maintenance of the lot, was healthy. After doing some of his own research, Hale found MRHS’s fees were “on the higher side” when compared to those of surrounding districts. He also cited high gas prices as a reason to reduce the fees.
Kiernan asked Hale about the life cycle of a parking lot and the cost of a new lot.
Hale told him it costs about $1 million to have the lot milled and refinished and a lot will last about 20 years. The current lot is 10 years old. Kiernan said the need to raise $1 million over the next 10 years may not warrant dropping the fees.
Osborne countered that it depends on the point of the revolving fund. Hale noted he couldn’t say definitively, but he understood the ongoing revolving fund was designed to take care of ongoing maintenance such as crack filling, rather than major projects.
Bontempi agreed with Kiernan, but the topic was tabled at Kennedy’s suggestion, until the policy could be reviewed.