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Date: 9/19/2023
SOUTHAMPTON — Continual growth in the school’s population has prompted the School Committee to open discussions about razing or refurbishing the William E. Norris Elementary School.
According to statistics from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Norris School enrollment was 448 in the 2020-21 school year. Enrollment now stands at 467, an increase of 19 students, or 4.24%. The total current capacity of the building is 500 students.
“We could — and I’m not suggesting this — we could shut off School Choice going forward,” said Jon Lumbra, chair of the School Committee. “We still have this group that has to phase out; but I believe that at some point we’re going to hit our capacity. The question is, is that five years from now or 10 years from now?”
The school building was constructed in 1956, with an addition and other work done in 1995. The heating system is 67 years old. The antiquated boiler may be why Lumbra began by referring to the HVAC equipment map for the building. He said it currently costs the school $14,000 per month to run the natural gas boiler, a solid justification for making some kind of change.
The discussion revealed that a non-binding resolution is being planned for Town Meeting next spring that will ask voters whether the town should retain the current configuration of the elementary school as part of Hampshire Regional School District or become a district of its own. The local elementary school has its own school committee, there are three other elementary school committees, and a grade 7-12 school committee for the middle and high school.
“Do we, based on our population, want to become an independent pre-K through 12 town?” Lumbra asked. The broad organizational question, however, doesn’t change the likelihood of the expense of a facility upgrade. “I believe at some point we’re going to have to replace the school, whether it’s in five years or 10 years.”
Lumbra used the HVAC map to illustrate for committee members how close the school is to capacity. He showed that in the old section of the school, built in the mid-’50s, there are seven classrooms, with one split into A and B rooms. In the new addition, built in 1995, there are 18 classrooms. The contract governing class sizes limit them to 23, thereby offering an easy calculation to arrive at a building capacity, about 33 students above current enrollments.
One strategy for increasing capacity was suggested to Lumbra by Tom Lovell. Lovell suggested a wing of original classrooms, which sits on a slab, be razed and replaced with a two story wing on the same footprint. The second story would add six classrooms. Lumbra, using off the cuff math, said the proposed second floor would accommodate 120 students, boosting the building capacity to 620.
The idea of replacing the school didn’t seem to surprise committee members, but Lumbra softened the spectre of the town taking on another mortgage by mentioning the Masachusetts School Building Authority’s assistance program for school construction projects. Lumbra said the base rate for reimbursement of construction costs is 32 cents of each dollar, or 32%.
“We would come in somewhere around 50 cents on a dollar,” Lumbra said, implying the town would be reimbursed 50% of construction costs. “That’s for replacing the school. [But] if we can provide a study that shows if … we can rehab our building … we can get the same reimbursement rate.”
The heating issues seemed to concern Lumbra, who proposed a solution that would also alleviate mold issues as well. He said $200,000 in mini-splits would heat the second floor of the addition built in 1995. The whole school was built on a slab, Lumbra said, and when the concrete cools it develops condensation, it sweats, and that “causes the mold in the rugs on the lower floor.”
“I would propose that we, if we stay in K-6, we look to expand the second floor,” Lumbra said. “Add six classrooms, gut our infrastructure as far as HVAC, heating system, modernize it, look to incorporate mini-ducts or dehumidifiers, or something of that nature.”
The timeline for a rehab or razing of the school building may extend beyond five years, when enrollments may exceed capacity. The town will have to register to be on the list for school building reimbursements. There may be some delay before monies are available. The planning and construction phases will require several years.
The next step, according to Lumbra, is to determine where the town is at, in relation to enrollments and school capacity.
Lumbra asked committee members for a motion to ask the Selectboard to fund a study. Data will be needed for when a choice goes before voters at Town Meeting.
“Step one, confirm our believe that we have a capacity issue in under a decade,” Lumbra said. “Then we have the facts and the data, because ultimately it will require a vote from the citizens. Then we would be armed with data, to go to them and say, here’s the issue. We build the new school at $100 million or we can rehab this one at 20 million, whatever the numbers are.”
Committee members made a motion for a one time appropriation of $50,000 for a study to confirm growth projections at the school and determine the requirements to accommodate the growth. The committee voted unanimously to forward the request to the Select Board.