Above: Survey results showed that survey respondents’ willingness to reconsider the Neary project skewed in different directions based on whether or not they have kids in K-8 schools. (graph by Beth Melo based on data in the Select Board meeting packet)
Tomorrow night, the Select Board will vote on whether to request an extension for getting voters’ approval to fund the Neary School Building project. The last time the question came up, the board was split. But the majority had been in favor of keeping the option alive, while the Town continues to explore how to handle school building issues.
On April 30th, MSBA (the Mass School Building Authority) approved covering a significant portion of the proposed project to tear down Neary School and build a new school for grades 2-5 in its place. But that funding required voters approving an estimated $68M of the $108.5M project.
The state’s commitment also came with a deadline. The Town had 120 days to certify the required votes by 2/3 of Town Meeting and the majority of ballot voters. Since both votes failed in May, the August 28th deadline couldn’t be met.
However, the state may be willing to grant an extension to the deadline. The Select Board scheduled a special meeting for this Tuesday, August 26th, to discuss making the request.
Earlier this summer, the board charged a new PreK-8 School Building Committee to help officials and voters compare costs, and pros and cons for maintaining/renovating/consolidating school buildings, or building a new one. Those options include both the Neary Project and alternatives that some vocal opponents had argued hadn’t been properly explored. The committee’s target is to have data to report to the board by the end of September.
In the meantime, the Select Board and School Committee issued a survey this summer to get more feedback on what people were thinking at the time of the public votes in May, and what they may be open to going forward.
The agenda for the Tuesday night Select Board meeting doesn’t mention the survey results. But they are likely to come up during the MSBA discussion, since they were included in the meeting packet.
The responses from the 36 question survey are detailed in 191 pages. Following those results are an additional 21 pages analyzing some of the responses. (According to Select Board member Al Hamilton, the analysis was his.)
The 766 survey respondents only represent 65% of the 1,178 voters who showed up to the Special Town Meeting in May, and over half of respondents didn’t attend the meeting.
Plus, the opinions on how to proceed going forward predate any report by the new committee. So, there’s likely to be some debate over how seriously to take the 39% of respondents that answered they “would definitely not support the same project if re-voted”.
As I’ve previously covered, the school building research is happening in parallel with the School Committee’s decision to ask voters this fall to approve $4M to replace Neary School’s roof. (You can read about that here.)
