Capital Budget Discussion Dominates School Committee Meeting Agenda

October 31, 2014

By Ginni Spencer

SC-NewsA presentation by Director of Facilities Taissir Alani occupied most of the agenda for the meeting of the School Committee on October 21.   Alani walked the committee members through a list of repairs and preventive maintenance items for the town’s school buildings.  This review was among the first steps taken as part of the annual review cycle of the School Committee budget which will be debated and voted at Town Meeting in March, 2015.

Alani described the various items in terms of cost, efficiency, and safety.  Even with the full implementation of the new VFA Asset Management System, a tool which aids in the timely review of all of the town’s physical assets,  judgments must be made as to possible trade-offs among the various recommendations.  For example, batteries to operate emergency lights at Davis School need to be replaced every two years.  It may be more cost-effective in the long-term to purchase an emergency generator.  Such decisions will be discussed by Capital Expenditures, Finance Committee, and the Selectmen as the request makes it way to Town Meeting floor for final disposition.   Other items being considered include boiler repairs, retro-commissioning of equipment to increase energy efficiency, roof maintenance, lighting upgrades, space modification, and updates to video surveillance systems.

Dr. Claire Jackson, Assistant Superintendent, then gave a brief presentation on the various information technology (IT) assets in the school department.  Assets were grouped into three categories: critical, needed, and advancement.  “Critical” items are typically part of infrastructure;  “Needed” items are necessary to the instructional process and involve the replacement of outdated, ineffective equipment; “Advancement” items offer an opportunity to “purchase programming and interactive equipment” designed to reduce the number of students in subgroups not meeting proficient achievement levels.  Dr. Jackson noted that the projected requests are “not a wish list” and are “required to maintain the current program and fill in a few gaps at Lane and Davis”.  School Committee members then posed some questions:  Ed Pierce asked for more information regarding the replacement policy for the equipment;  Abbie Siebert said she would like to see more detail on the individual pieces of equipment and how they are used in the classroom;  Michael  McAllister suggested looking for independent industry standards on replacement that could be used to rationalize the recommended schedule.

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The School Committee will make its presentation to the Capital Expenditures Committee on October 29.

In other business, Superintendent  Jon Sills reported on class size.  Davis School currently has 567 students; Lane, 540; John Glenn Middle School, 502; and there are 884 students at the high school, 20 more than in 2013.  Sills noted that average class size at the middle school is smaller than in 2013, although some special classes exceed optimal guidelines.  At the high school, an increase in the number of 9th grade students moving into private schools has been noted but it is not clear if this is a meaningful trend.  Overall, Sills concluded, class size is much better this year than last year.

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