10 March, 2015
The Elementary School Building Committee met Monday, March 10th, to update the committee and the public about recent meetings between the committee heads and the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
As vice chair Mike Shepard stated, originally the committee had approached the MSBA to proceed building a school for approximately 355 students. At the time, he said, the committee thought that the estimate was low, but reasoned that they would be able to adjust the number afterwards. He also mentioned the difficulty in getting the MSBA to change the number a year ago; with these blocks, Mr. Shepard said, the committee had thought it best to sign the agreement as is, rather than be hindered at the time, and just adjust it later.
As it turned out, Mr. Shepard explained, the MSBA is typically unwilling to change that number at any point in the process, without forcing the committee to restart their proceedings.
However, the committee met with the MSBA recently to appeal their decision about the enrollment number. In speaking to the gentleman that made the original analysis, he was willing to increase the enrollment number to 395 students. Additionally, although this adjustment in enrollment number does set the committee itself back a few weeks, Compass project manager Tim Bonfatti stated that the public and the committee would likely not notice the setback.
The meeting was gathered to make sure the committee all agreed on the new number. Mr. Shepard stressed that once this number has been changed once, it will be very difficult to change it again. Superintendent Cathy MacLeod voiced her support for the new number and said that it was one that Hopkinton could easily accomodate.
By the end of the meeting, a motion was made and approved for Chair Joe Markey to sign and approve the new enrollment number as supplied by the MSBA.
The Elementary School Building Committee next meets on March 24th, ahead of their March 28th public forum.
