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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Steering Committee - 07/08/2015STEERING COMMITTEE 8 JULY 2015 The South Burlington Steering Commiee held a meeng on Wednesday, 8 July 2015, at 6:00 p.m., in the Library of the Tule Middle School, 500 Dorset Street. MEMBERS PRESENT: City Council: P. Nowak, H. Riehle, C. Shaw, T. Chienden; K. Dorn, City Manager; School Board: E. Fitzgerald, Steering Commiee Chair; J. Beay, D. Fleming, P. Leduc; D. Young, Superintendent of Schools ALSO PRESENT: T. Hubbard, Deputy City Manager; A. Klugo, J. Wilking, C. Haer, G. Benoit, D. Macdonald, A. Crocker, T. Barri, other members of the public 1. Comments & quesons from the public not related to the Agenda: No issues were raised. Ms. Nowak introduced Elizabeth Fitzgerald as the Chair of the Steering Commiee for this fiscal year. 2. Approval of the 3 June 2015 Steering Commiee Minutes: Ms. Fitzgerald noted that she had asked if there were any gaps in the informaon. The answer was no. The spelling of a name was corrected. The minutes were then accepted as amended. 3. Master Planning & Visioning Task Force Answering Quesons from the School Board and City Council about the Task Force Final Report: Mr. Klugo noted there were some common themes in the quesons raised by both boards: a. Should we stay with the status quo? b. Was the High School rebuild supported by a majority of the Task Force? Where would it go? c. Transions d. School size STEERING COMMITTEE 8 JULY 2015 PAGE 2 e. Phasing Regarding the “status quo,” Mr. Klugo said the Task Force felt things are OK now, the schools are excellent. If things were to stay stable, it would remain OK. But things are not stable, and all members of the Task Force agreed that looking toward the future meant looking at the exisng buildings. Mr. Klugo said that the Task Force agreed that programs need to drive the facilies. The key word was “flexibility.” The fiy year old facilies are not very flexible; all are out of date and don’t meet current needs. The NEASC assessments support this. Regarding the High School: Mr. Klugo said the concept of the High School did not receive unanimous support. Members did want the High School to remain on the current 550 Dorset St. campus. The thought was to build a new High School behind the exisng one and then tear down the exisng building. In the final report, it will be clear that this opon was unanimously supported by the Task Force. A member of the audience felt the cost of this would be too high. Regarding transions: Mr. Wilking said the Task Force’s focus was on flexible academic facilies. Transions should not be the only consideraon. If transions were all you had to worry about, all schools would be K-12, and even that wouldn’t eliminate transions. Transions should be looked at, but they should not be the primary focus. Regarding school size: Mr. Klugo said the Task Force acknowledged that “small is good.” But you can have “small learning communies” in larger schools. In opon “Q,” the 250 K-4 students would be divided into smaller learning communies. Mr. Wilking said a lot of people’s responses are based on what they grew up with. He added that he grew up in a K-8 environment that was divided into smaller communies. There are many ways to do this, and not all are bad. STEERING COMMITTEE 8 JULY 2015 PAGE 3 Regarding phasing: Mr. Klugo said that phasing is the key to making things work. Changes will likely happen over me. The Task Force considered the use of modular and noted that some modulars are beer than today’s classrooms. Mr. Wilking noted that one of the focuses of the Task Force was Central School and what to do with it. The Task Force felt unanimously that if it was best for the community, the schools can work without Central School. The majority felt there should be an RFP process. Mr. Klugo added the Task Force did not feel the process should be driven by the offer that is on the table now. Mr. Klugo then addressed items that remain open: One part of the report needs to be updated, which they hope to accomplish by the end of the month. The majority of the Task Force needs to respond to the phasing piece Mr. Klugo did not ancipate any future meengs of the Task Force. Mr. Fleming asked what are the most important things to consider. Mr. Klugo said that transions need to be given their proper weight in the discussions. The aging buildings, staffing and equity issues are of equal importance. The focus needs to be on providing a beer academic model for children. Mr. Wilking said this means a fair and balanced educaon for every child. Mr. Chienden distributed informaon on some research he had done. He noted that one criteria that weighs more and more for him is that an Oak Creek School could be a more secure environment for children. He noted that some of the current schools are located in areas where most crimes occur. The fewest crimes in the city occur in the Oak Creek area, which is mostly residenal. Mr. Chienden noted that Police Chief Whipple felt that one single elementary school would be more secure. He also noted that many 20th century schools cannot be adapted to 21st century security methods. These include “invisible security” methods such as those that have been adopted at Sandy Hook following that tragedy. Mr. Chienden said he would support a single elementary school in the Southeast Quadrant. He asked if this issue was considered by the Task Force. STEERING COMMITTEE 8 JULY 2015 PAGE 4 Mr. Klugo said they spent some me on security. Mr. Wilking noted that Patrick Burke said security is his first priority. The Task Force did not, however, talk about which site would be the most secure. Mr. Klugo said they did talk about the fact that there is no second egress at Orchard and Chamberlin Schools and there is a gate at Central School. These could be issues in an emergency. A member of the public felt there would be addional people coming into a larger school which could be a security problem. Mr. Haer noted that the Task Force did discuss addional security issues for Central School as City Center develops. Mr. Wilking noted there is a queson as to whether the Oak Creek School site is too wet and whether more land would be needed. Mr. Shaw asked the acreage of the schools. Mr. Klugo said Central School is 11+ acres. He did not know the others. All 3 elementary schools total 55,000-56,000 sq. . Mr. Wilking added that the Task Force did look at potenal expandability at Orchard and Chamberlin Schools. Both have issues. They could expand, but not much. Mr. Klugo said the recognion now is that Central School should have been in the Form Based Codes discussion. Mr. Fleming asked what advice was given re: Tule Middle School. Mr. Wilking said it was not a main focus. They did discuss what might happen if the 5th grade was added to the Middle School. Mr. Klugo added that if the administrave offices were moved elsewhere, the Middle School could accommodate the 5th grade. The queson was how to deal with masonry walls within the exisng footprint. It was felt that the Middle School could become a 21st Century learning environment, unlike the High School. Mr. Fleming noted there were no specific recommendaons regarding pre-K. Mr. Wiling said they spoke a lot about pre-K. The queson is how it will be funded in the future. The Task Force realized that with a consolidated elementary school, there will be “leover” buildings that could be used for pre-K. Mr. Klugo added that there are also private pre-K providers, and the need to be part of that discussion. Supt. Young noted that pre-K is not now mandated; South Burlington made the decision to have a pre-K opon. STEERING COMMITTEE 8 JULY 2015 PAGE 5 Ms. Nowak said that the Task Force seems to agree on more things that they differ on. What is disappoinng to her is that some people had the pre-conceived noon that there would be a definite decision. She felt that what the Task Force is presenng should have much more weight than “the Big Deal,” which was only one brief public meeng. Ms. Nowak also cited a lot of pubic misinformaon and misconcepons. She asked why the Task Force put so much weight on the Big Deal. One of the Task Force members said she didn’t feel the people who were at The Big Deal were representave of the whole community. The event was meant to be the first piece of community input, not the only piece. She also noted that the community favored 2 elementary schools; the Task Force is recommending one. She stressed that if “one size fits all” they wouldn’t be here now. She also felt that what ulmately happens will come down to cost. $60,000 is a lot to ask of taxpayers, and the amount currently on the table for the sale of Central School won’t cover that. Mr. Klugo acknowledged that the Task Force le some work to be done. They have suggested addional commiees (e.g., a 21st Century Learning commiee). Mr. Haer agreed that the representaon at the Big Deal was incomplete. He specifically noted that people who have no children in the school system were not represented. He felt it is the City Council’s job to survey the whole community. Mr. Barri said he didn’t want to see a decision made with a “sense of urgency.” He didn’t think there was a problem now. He wanted to see a set of charts to show what his incremental tax rate will be over the next 25 years. He also wanted all choices to be open. He felt none of this would have happened without the Saxon Partners offer. Mr. Klugo said there are problems that are becoming urgent: aging facilies, program inequies, enrollment inequies, etc. He added that if Saxon Partners drove the discussion that is good. But they were not the focus of it. Mr. Young stressed that the aim is to make a decision that will stand the test of me. Mr. Shaw said he has heard that the status quo is not adequate. The queson is what it will cost to address this. STEERING COMMITTEE 8 JULY 2015 PAGE 6 An audience member said she moved to South Burlington because of the school system. She is willing to pay taxes for good schools. She wants to see the best decision made for the children of the community. She personally likes separate schools that feel into the High School. She was also concerned with possibly losing some of the district’s great teachers. Ms. Greco asked if the status quo is good or not. Mr. Wilking said the district is doing a good job educang children. Facilies have issues. There is a point at which it doesn’t make sense to “keep them up.” Classrooms are not the right size and you can’t add space to them. There are also demographic issues. It is important to draw people to the community. TIF funds have a limit. There have to be decisions made. Ms. Fitzgerald thanked the Task Force for its tremendous effort. She then suggested the City Council and School Board accept the proposed “last steps” in ancipaon of a final report at the end of July. Members agreed. It was agreed that the final report of the Task Force will be on both the City and School District websites. As there was no further business to come before the Steering Commiee, Ms. Nowak moved to adjourn. Mr. Chienden seconded. Moon passed unanimously, and the meeng was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. _________________________________ Clerk