Above: The committee overseeing the Neary Building Project is issuing public communications and promoting more forums for Q&A. (images cropped from design renderings and Town News Flash)
Yesterday, the Town posted information about more upcoming forums for residents to ask questions about the Neary Building Project. (Reminder, one is tonight!)
And last night, the Neary Building Committee sent me a letter they are issuing to the public with answers to some FAQs.
According to the message, this was letter #1 of multiple that the NBC plans to issue this week. Scroll down for more on that.
Neary Building Project Forums
As I posted on Monday, the NBC announced two more forums. Unlike some of the past forums, these will allow residents to ask questions about any aspect of the project. Those are scheduled for:
- Tonight (Thursday, May 1st) – 7:30 pm at Trottier Middle School, 49 Parkerville Rd
- Monday, May 5th – 8:30 pm via zoom
Yesterday, the Town also announced two more upcoming forums that will specifically focus on answering questions about the cost and financing of the most expensive building project the Town has ever (potentially) invested in.
Those are scheduled for:
- Tuesday, May 6th – 12:30 pm via zoom
- Wednesday, May 7th – 8:00 PM via zoom
For all of the zoom sessions, click here (closer to the event) to find the to-be-posted login info.
Neary Building Committee Letter
The April 30th letter is 6 pages long. So, I’m just going to share the intro and “Table of Contents” below:
The Neary Building Committee (“NBC”) is providing the community with an update on the
proposed project ahead of the upcoming Special Town Meeting. Residents can find
additional information by visiting the Nearybuilding.com website. If you have any questions after reviewing this communication, please email the NBC at nbc@nsboro.k12.ma.us.Table of Contents
- What is the vote?
- When and where is the Special Town Meeting to hold the first vote?
- When is the ballot question vote scheduled?
- Overall Project Summary
- Where can I learn more about the process?
- Can I watch the replays of NBC meetings?
- How much will this cost me?
- What happens if there is a “no” vote at the Special Town Meeting and/or on the Ballot Vote?
- What would happen to the grades currently housed at Neary if this project does not proceed as proposed?
- How do I get in contact with the NBC?
To read the full letter covering those topics, click here.
To read my coverage of the project (and letters to the editor from community members about the project) click here.
Updated (5/1/25 10:26 am): The NBC just sent me a revised letter with fixes to a couple of typos/errors in the one originally linked.
I’m glad that the Neary Building Committee (NBC) documented their perspective, so that we can see the strawman arguments that they wish to use to frame the town’s choices.
The letter states, “The Southborough School Committee has voted unanimously to support Grade 5 remaining in an elementary school building and not placing it at the Trotter Middle School.” However, that vote was taken in the context of where to place the grades given that a new Neary was to be built and then used as part of the rationale that a new Neary should house four grades. If the townsfolk demand that the NBC work within fiscal limits and make optimal use of existing buildings, less Neary, then we should expect our school administrators to find ways to overcome the challenges of having grades 5-8 at Trottier. Let’s be clear that such challenges are NOT insurmountable problems that warrant a new $108M building as a solution.
The letter warns that, “In a best case scenario, it would take approximately three years to get back to the same part of the process that we are currently in with the MSBA….” This is a scare tactic, implying that we will face years of uncertainty while we once again get into MSBA’s queue for state funding. But, if the town chooses to tear down Neary and use the remaining three schools for all of our students, we won’t need to get state funding to afford the modest changes needed at Finn, Woodward, and Trottier. Neary is not at a point where it needs to immediately close, so we can evolve affordably over several years and probably implement the needed changes without temporary classroom modules. I suspect that many of facility modifications are simple enough to perform during summer breaks.
Finally, the NBC’s letter does not spend much time discussing the option of removing Neary and putting all of our students in Finn, Woodward, and Trottier. To their credit, that wasn’t a viable option a couple of years ago when we were hosting about 60 Northborough students at Finn. But that has changed, and Northborough is taking those students back into their own schools. Yesteryear’s criteria are no longer valid, and Southborough does not now need a new building to replace Neary. The timing is unfortunate in that we’ve spent quite a lot developing plans for a new Neary that isn’t actually needed, but also fortunate that we do have this information before we actually commit to the new construction.