Present: M. Morrison, W. Morrison, C. Morrison, S. Heinrich. T. Koenig arrived late
Excused: J. Heinrich

S. Heinrich called the meeting to order at 7:50 PM. He noted that there appeared to be a communication mix-up as members of the Parks of Recreation Committee had not come as planned.

The committee worked on the format and information to be included in the final space needs report. The report should start with an executive summary and end withconclusions. The middle of the report should contain the back-up data and detailed explanation of the plan. The report should contain both charts and words to explain the plan. They agreed that the options should be listed with building a middle school first. Further the report should include a section of PAQ (possibly asked questions), for example - Should 5th and 6th grade be bussed with elementary schools or with high schools? How will putting 5th grade in middle school alter the current 5th grade curriculum?

OPTION	PRO	CON
Build a high school	Auditorium Ability to reconfigure current space usage: MMS moves to MHS, etc Gives MMS more technologically up-to-date labs Gets kindergarten	COST: $50,000,000 District does not own a piece of property to use Current addition will solve high school space issues thru 2005
Build new elementary - result: four K - 6 elementary	Less expensive to build than middle school Redistricting may ease TFS space Gets kindergarten	Put 6th back in elementary not educationally recommended MMS classrooms still undersized/need to be renovated
Additions to elementary & middle	Less expensive than new building Gets kindergarten	Core facilities currently at max Resulting schools educationally too large No space to add anyway No future expansion ability Impact on recent new fields
Portables	Cheaper than a building Solves problem temporarily Not eligible for building aid	Not a long term solution Not cost effective # needed & Space to locate
Build a K - 5 elementary, downsize MES so MMS can use extra space	Elementary schools cheaper to build than middle schools Gets kindergarten	MES core facilities would have to be relocated MMS would have to be renovated as well
Build a 5 - 8 middle school, Current MMS becomes 5 - 8 also	Same number of school transitions Additional athletic fields Gets kindergarten Future expansion ability	How to determine school assignments Duplication of equipment and services Still need to renovate MMS Puts 5th graders on buses with high schoolers
Build 7 - 8 middle school, Current MMS becomes 5 - 6	Less expensive renovations to MMS to accommodate 5/6 Town-wide solution, no redistricting Entire building: Age/Peer Appropriate grouping and Grade level specialization 5/6 could be bused with elementary OR with high school. Additional athletic fields Future expansion ability Gets kindergarten	4 public school transitions 7/8 building not as close to MHS as MMS is now
Build K - 4 elementary, MES becomes grade 5 and rest of building used by MMS	Cheaper to build than a middle school Gets kindergarten	MES has 25 regular classrooms: Need 18 for 5th grade & 15 for MMS - will not work
Build K - 4 elementary, Mastricola complex becomes 5 - 8.	Cheaper to build than middle school Gets kindergarten	Not enough room 1,700 student middle school = too big!

It was noted that next year the middle school will be have grade level houses as opposed to cluster based houses. It was suggested that a floor plan of the proposed usage might be helpful to the committee.

There was discussion about whether implementing kindergarten is driving a new school proposal. The middle school is out of space and the elementary schools are at maximum usage. It was decided that the costs of including kindergarten or not should be in the report. Further, it was discussed that the town build-out study indicates that a middle school is going to be needed at some point in the future. If the school district builds a new middle school now, combined with the high school addition, there will be space to accommodate approximately half of the students expected at build-out. T. Koenig suggested that building a 1,000 student middle school meets the current middle school need, implements kindergarten and allows the school district to get class sizes back to recommended levels while giving the district some growing room and some flexibility with respect to curriculum offerings. W. Morrison pointed out that it would appear that with a new middle school, all that would be needed to meet the growth for build-out would be an addition to both the new middle school and high school and a new elementary school. C. Morrison said she would rather talk about space from a number of students enrolled standpoint rather than a number of years past before another building proposal will need to be presented.

The committee decided that some of the things they want to talk to the architect about include construction costs, a middle school building design for 1,000 students, potential renovations to current middle school, building and wetlands laws, and three story versus two story buildings.

S. Heinrich will call M. Housman to reschedule the Parks and Recreation Committee. He will also call J. O'Neil to confirm W. Morrison and C. Morrison as PBC representatives to the Broad Base Committee with T. Koenig and S. Heinrich available as alternates. Further, he will request a meeting with the architect to be held at the middle school as part of the Committee next meeting on June 27, 2000 at 7:30 PM.

On a motion from T. Koenig, seconded by C. Morrison, the committee voted unanimously to adjourn at 9:45 PM.

Last Updated: July 22, 2000 by Wayne Morrison