Last night, the majority of the Select Board voted to appoint five “at-large” members to the PreK-8 School Building Committee.
At this point 8 of 9 seats have been appointed (and there’s news on who won’t be continuing in the 9th seat). While critics of the new process didn’t entirely get their way, it appears there will be almost no overlap with the prior committee.
The new committee is charged with compiling data for the public to help make a decision on how to handle Southborough’s public school buildings. (For a reminder about the committee’s charge, click here.)
The Select Board previously approved a committee of 7 members, only three of them At Large. The majority of the board changed their mind on the issue after hearing public comment from a former Select Board member and interviewing the five At Large applicants.
Before appointing the five members, the Select Board questioned them about their motivations for participating, their ability to be objective in putting the data together, and their ability to work with people who have different view points. All gave answers that appeared to satisfy the board.
The prospective members each also assured they are able to commit to the work needed to meet an ambitious deadline. Still, at the end of the discussion, the majority of the board chose to push the committee’s expiration date and report deadline out one month. The target for them to wrap up their work is now by the end of September.
The decision to increase the number of members was influenced by a suggestion from former Select Board member Bonnie Phaneuf during public comment. She urged that the listed applicants were all “high caliber individuals” that would all add value.
In response to the board’s prior hesitance to seat a larger committee, she noted that the Regional School Committee (which she also formerly served on) has ten members and works fine.
Phaneuf’s suggestion was later followed up on by Select Board member, and former Neary School Building Committee member, Kathy Cook. She highlighted the amount of work that the committee needs to take on.
She also raised that the new committee won’t include former NBC members Jason Malinowski (Chair) and Andrew Pfaff. To help fill their shoes, she believed more volunteers were needed. Select Board Chair Andrew Dennington noted that he “warmed up” to the idea. Vice Chair Marguerite Landry agreed with them.
In the minority, members Tim Fling and Al Hamilton voted against the increased number and the motion to appoint all five. Hamilton noted earlier his opposition to including Davis, instead wanting only “fresh eyes” on the committee. Fling didn’t clarify his objection and whether he opposed seating any specific applicants. But in addition to voting against expanding the number of seats, he had suggested holding off on at least one appointment. He mentioned a potential applicant he had spoke to that was away for vacation this week.
Here’s a look at who will be working on the project this summer.
“Residents at Large” Members
The new members bring a mix of experience and perspectives.
Mark Davis — He is the sole voting member of the committee who served on the prior committee. The Select Board was seeking members with relevant experience in building projects. Davis brings 45 years of varied construction experience.
He assured the board he wasn’t stuck on advocating for the project that he had strenuously supported at public forums and Special Town Meeting:
it sometimes takes several Town Meetings to come to a consensus as to what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it. So I’m bringing to this committee the same sense that I walked in three years ago to the previous committee — No preconceived notions.
He told Fling that he had been thinking along the same lines about the matrix of data the public needs to be able to look at.
Gene Karmelek — At the Special Town Meeting in May, Karmelek gave the “Plan B” presentation on behalf of opponents to the Neary Building Project. He discussed the frustration he felt over the prior process. He assured that his core interest was to help the Town objectively assess its resources and build community consensus for any future projects. He assured that he could collaborate with others respectfully to come up with objective data.
Howard Anderson — The retired engineer formerly served on previous school building committees for Trottier Middle School, Finn School, Woodward School and Algonquin. He told the board that he believed the original committee had “tried too hard to satisfy a lot of masters”, complicated by discussions about a community center. He wants to ensure they focus on what the Town needs:
It’s important to make sure the assets we have today are in good shape and then the use of those assets can be determined
In the discussion he advocated against any major excavation on the Neary grounds because of the groundwater issues there. He noted that he did believe the existing building could potentially be used for non-school purposes like a Community Center.
Beth Wittcoff — The retired former middle school principal was an educator for over 40 years. She’s currently the licensure coordinator for the Mass School Administrators Assoc. She previously served on the building committees for Trottier Middle School, Finn School, and Algonquin. She emphasized her experience in finding compromises during contentious meetings.
Speaking about her experience as a principal, she stressed her understanding of the need for space, but also how to “make physical spaces work for you”. And she noted that she didn’t agree with the NSBORO administration’s argument at Town Meeting that 5th graders couldn’t be included at Trottier because they didn’t want them on buses with 8th graders.
Kelly Conklin — She is the only At Large member with children young enough to be directly impacted by the Town’s decisions about the schools. (She has a child entering Kindergarten and an 18 month old.) Conklin also brings experience as an educator for over a decade. She has taught English at three middle schools, each with a different grade configuration (4-8, 6-8, and 7-8).
Conklin highlighted her unique perspective on changes in post-pandemic student learning and the impact on schools:
my high school almost lost accreditation because they were not doing an adequate job of supporting their special education students and integrating them with their general education students. So I do think that it’s very easy for us to look back on our own experiences education and assume that it’s being done in a certain way. However, education has changed significantly since the pandemic.
She noted that there was one option in the matrix that she had “strong feelings” about. She indicated that she wouldn’t be in favor of adding 5th grade students to Neary unless there was an addition to the building.
Representative Members
Despite critics calling for all new faces on the committee, four members of the Select Board had decided to include members that represent other committees. The concept was it would allow members from the Neary Building Committee to serve, bringing their expertise with them. Their familiarity with past research would help the committee more quickly pull together details the Town and schools had already collected.
In practice, that isn’t what is happening.
Each committee that has already selected its representative voted to choose a new member who didn’t serve on the NBC:
- Select Board Member — Tim Fling (replacing Kathy Cook)
- School Committee Member — Laura Kauffman (replacing Roger Challen)
- Capital Improvement and Planning Committee Member — Stephen Holland (replacing Chair Jason Malinowski)
Fling, newly elected this spring, represents a new perspective for the Select Board rep. Prior to the Town Meeting and election, he publicly criticized the cost impacts to residents and indicated that he was leaning against the project. He pushed for the concept of a committee creating an extensive, objective matrix, laying out many options and details for “apples to apples” comparisons.
At CIPC’s meeting on Monday, Malinowski said he was willing to continue work on the new committee but also to let someone else take over. Holland volunteered. He explained that he was willing since his young daughter, coming up through the school system, will be impacted by school changes.
That leaves Advisory Committee’s representative. While the committee has yet to meet to vote on it, Cook noted in Tuesday’s meeting that they had learned Advisory Chair Andrew Pfaff, who had served on the committee and the financial subcommittee, doesn’t plan to continue on the revised committee. (That may have come up in the meeting of the new committee on Monday night. An agenda for a zoom meeting was posted but a video of the meeting hasn’t been.)
The School Committee voted to appoint Kauffman at their June 25th meeting. (There was also no video posted of that meeting, so I can’t say if there was any discussion around her interest or relevant experience.)
To view the committee’s full charge (minus the edits to increase At Large members and extend the deadline), click here.
