Upham, Hardy schools to be fall town meeting topic

June 12, 2018 by bbrown Leave a Comment

For those of you with college-bound kids: you might want to push them into consulting.

The Board of Selectmen request that Town Meeting Members hold Tuesday, October 2, and Wednesday, October 3, for a Special Town Meeting to consider appropriating funds for feasibility and schematic design to address the needs of the Upham School, potentially by renovating it or by rebuilding or replacing it, either at that site, the site of the Hardy School, or elsewhere. The project is expected to be carried out in partnership with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).

$1 million in funding was just approved for a feasibility study related to Hunnewell Elementary School’s possible renovation.

Upham Elementary School in Wellesley — Upham: First in line?

Wellesley Board of Selectmen push Hardy/Upham School vote to Fall 2018

May 16, 2018 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

At the Monday, May 14 Board of Selectmen’s meeting the BoS and the School Committee joined to discuss the June Special Town Meeting. Their focus: whether the warrant for the meeting should be reopened and whether one of the votes regarding the Hardy/Hunnewell/Upham (HHU) project should be pushed to October.

The decisions:

Article 2 — which asks the Town to appropriate $2.5 million for a feasibility study and schematic design of Upham School — will be presented and voted on at an additional Special Town meeting tentatively targeted for early October 2018. You can see the exact warrant wording here.
Article 3 — which asks the Town to approve spending $1 million for a feasibility study of Hunnewell School — will be presented and voted on at the June 5 Special Town Meeting, as originally planned. You can see the exact warrant wording here.

Hardy, Hunnewell, and Upham are the three elementary schools under consideration for either renovation or a teardown/rebuild scenario. Wellesley has 7 elementary schools.

The language in the warrant does not name Hardy School. School Committee Chair Michael D’Ortenzio explains why this is: “The Article 2 was a vote on doing feasibility for both Hardy and Upham, not just Upham. Though the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s (MSBA) process only allows the naming of one school, the Town boards are committed to doing feasibility studies on both sites…the project is nominally the Upham School, but that school may end up being built at either the Hardy or Upham locations. The MSBA is aware of our plans and has confirmed that we can study both sites as we have outlined to the community. The School Committee, Board of Selectmen, and School Building Committee are committed to a thorough study of both buildings and sites.”

The discussion centered around whether the Town as a whole would be best served by 1) delaying the consideration of Article 2 from the June Special Town Meeting and moving that discussion to a Special Town meeting tentatively targeted for October and 2) going forward with June’s Special Town Meeting regarding Article 3

The logic behind the change came down to communication. School Committee member Sharon Gray said, “We discussed this as a School Committee on Friday. I don’t think we came to a consensus about whether we wanted to go forward now or push it back to the fall. I think it’s fair to say that we were on the fence collectively.”

Ultimately, the School Committee, ended up on the side of the fence that collectively agreed that pushing the Article 2 vote to fall would allow the opportunity for additional communication about the project among community members and Town Meeting members. “If we push Article 2 to the fall, we will want to engage the various PTOs early in the school year,” one committee member suggested.

The emergence of Article 2 without any mention of Hardy fired up supporters of keeping that school and prompted town officials to clarify why Hardy wasn’t mentioned in the warrant.

The Board of Selectmen went into the meeting inclined to take Article 2 off the June warrant. Vice Chair Jack Morgan said, “The Selectmen have discussed and tentatively concluded that our inclination to take Article 2 off the warrant for the June Special Town Meeting would say we want to keep the community informed to the best of our ability.”

The discussion then turned to Article 3. Morgan said, “I think we should go ahead with the [June] Special Town Meeting regarding article 3.”

Hunnewell School, First Day — Full speed ahead for Hunnewell school warrant

The School Committee wasn’t on the fence about this one, voicing strong support to move forward with a vote at the June 15 Special Town Meeting. The thought was that going forward with Article 3 would shed light on the best pathway to walk with the decision-making and information-gathering process about Hunnewell School. “We should go ahead with the June Special Town Meeting, hopefully get the funding for that feasibility study, and find out. The intent of the feasibility study is what can we do? What are the options to solve the physical and educational deficiencies that we see in the building?” a School Committee member said.

Gray said that on May 24, Town Meeting members will be welcomed to tour Hunnewell School.

The upshot

A motion was made to postpone Article 2 until a Special Town Meeting in the fall. The motion was seconded, voted on, and passed.

Article 3 will be voted on at the June 5 Special Town Meeting at 7pm in the Wellesley Middle School auditorium.

Here’s the warrant as it originally appeared.

Wellesley explains why Hardy school not mentioned in Special Town Meeting warrant

May 3, 2018 by bbrown Leave a Comment

Wellesley Town Hall spring The omission of any mention of Hardy Elementary School in June 5 Special Town Meeting warrant has created confusion, so the Wellesley Board of Selectmen has attempted to clear the air.

Rumblings started leading up to a Wellesley Advisory Committee public hearing at Town Hall on Wednesday about 3 articles on the warrant for the June 5 Special Town Meeting. (We didn’t attend the public hearing, but if any of you did and want to chime in, please do.)

Article 1 had to do with meeting logistics, but Articles 2 and 3 focus on funding feasibility studies related the Hardy-Hunnewell-Upham plan, with Article 2 focused on Upham and Article 3 focused on Hunnewell. See full text of warrant embedded below.

But what about Hardy Elementary School, the first H in the much discussed HHU plan? Last week, Wellesley Public School Superintendent emphasized that all 3 schools are still in play.

The Board of Selectmen on Thursday morning re-emphasized that, and clarified why there’s no mention of Hardy in the Special Town Meeting warrant:

The Board of Selectmen would like to address concerns about the wording of the Warrant for the June 5 Special Town Meeting and in particular Article 2 regarding the Hardy/Upham project. The Board deliberated at some length on this Article during its meeting of Monday, April 30. This meeting is available to view on wellesleymedia.org. This statement summarizes the conclusions and reasoning of the Board in proceeding with the Article 2 language as voted.

The core of this Article, and the operative language in the motion that the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee will bring forward, is a request that the Town appropriate $2.5M for a feasibility study and schematic design of a new school. While the [Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA)] has invited the Ernest F. Upham School into the Eligibility Period of its grant program, the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee, and the School Building Committee remain committed to examining thoroughly both the Hardy site and the Upham site in order to determine which site should be proposed for the construction of the new elementary school. The budget request explicitly includes funds to evaluate both sites. This budget and plan were determined solely by the Town for the purpose of studying all of the factors required to ensure that we make the best decision for all Wellesley students and for the community. The Worcester Street parcels purchased by the Town at the April Special Town meeting will be incorporated into the feasibility study of the Hardy School site. The Selectmen and the School Committee believe that this purchase substantially increased the value of the Hardy property to the Town and addressed some of the challenges associated with constructing a new school at this location. However, there remain positives and negatives to both the Hardy site and the Upham site. Therefore, no decision can be made until the Town completes a rigorous feasibility process, ideally with MSBA support.

Last fall, before we heard from the MSBA, the Town was preparing to hold a Special Town Meeting to request funds to conduct a feasibility study of the Hardy and Upham sites and of the Hunnewell school. Funds for the Hunnewell feasibility study are the subject of Article 3 in the Warrant for the Special Town Meeting. While the MSBA has invited us into its eligibility phase, there is no guarantee that the Town and the MSBA will reach mutual agreement on the process for the feasibility study. However, the potential MSBA funding, with a current base rate of 31 percent of eligible expenses, is an important opportunity for the Town’s taxpayers. To take advantage of this opportunity, the Town must utilize the MSBA process, first by meeting the eligibility requirements, including Town Meeting approval of the funding for feasibility and schematic design, which the MSBA requires before the scope of the feasibility study can be developed. The MSBA has strict requirements for writing the warrants and motions that preclude the Town from referencing the Hardy School. If the Town does not adhere to MSBA process we will not be eligible for any funds.

While the Warrant article and the motion language required by the MSBA do not reference the Hardy site, neither precludes studying it. In fact, the standard MSBA process includes the exploration of alternative sites and other options. Along with the School Committee, the Selectmen remain fully committed to a path forward that will explore both the Hardy and Upham sites. Our intent is to do so in partnership with the MSBA through a process acceptable to both the Town and the MSBA that enables the Town to obtain the approximately $17 million in potential cost reimbursement. The appropriation of the requested $2.5 million under Article 2, however, provides the Town with the funds to proceed forward with the Hardy/Upham feasibility and schematic design without the MSBA in the unfortunateevent that the Town and the MSBA cannot reach agreement on a process that fully and impartially considers both the Hardy and Upham sites.

Download (PDF, 203KB)

School committee meeting — Hunnewell, Hardy, Upham update

April 26, 2018 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Hunnewell School — Request for Quotation approved

At the Tuesday, April 24 School Committee meeting, the Committee vote to approve a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for a Hunnewell School design. As part of a larger Scope of Feasibility Study the RFQ for the school, built in 1938, will study the question of whether it can be renovated. If a renovation is deemed not feasible, it will be decided which elements of Hunnewell can be used and incorporated into a new building. A focus of the study will be on what the building looks like structurally. If it is found that the structure can’t be reused or reworked, decisions will then need to be made about what elements can be taken from that building and used in a new design.

On May 2 there will be a mandatory site visit for companies interested in bidding on the contract.

On May 9, there will be a follow up meeting for those companies.

On June 5, there will be a Special Town Meeting to discuss Article 3, which is being put forth by the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee. In summary, here’s the article:

Will the Town vote to appropriate $1,000,000 or another sum to be expended under the direction of the School Committee for a feasibility study of the Hunnewell School including architectural and engineering services and all associated costs related to the renovation, reconstruction, addition, consolidation, or replacement of the Hunnewell School?

Hardy and Upham — the rumors continue to swirl

We’d heard rumors around town that it was decided at the April 24 School Committee meeting that one of the elementary schools would be closed. In the interest of putting those rumors to rest, know that there are still many more hoops to jump through before any such decision is made.

Superintendent David Lussier said that the town is committed to fully exploring both of the sites. “The emphasis is on doing a Feasibility Study on both the Hardy and the Upham sites,” Lussier said.

According to Vice Chair Matt Kelley, “Districts must explore a range of options and not enter into the process with a preconceived notion of what the answer is going to be. A necessary part of the process is to study both sites. And that’s what’s going to happen.”

You can see the video of the meeting on Wellesley Media.

Wellesley School Committee holding important meeting on FY19 schools budget, other issues

December 12, 2017 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The Wellesley School Committee is holding an important public meeting on Tuesday, December 12 at 6:30pm in the Juliani Room at Town Hall, 525 Washington St.

On the agenda:

The Wellesley Public Schools FY2019 budget presentation (this one is last on the Action/Discussion part of the agenda, scheduled at 8:15pm, if all goes in a timely manner). For context, here’s the FY2018 budget request.

Earlier on the agenda:

Discussion about Hardy and Upham Schools Improvement plans

Discussion about Wellesley Middle School facilities projects

A vote on the WMS and WHS programs of studies

A vote on the 2018 – 2019 academic calendar

A vote on the PAWS (Preschool at Wellesley Schools) feasibility study. Some discussion points have been: whether to 1.build out of the existing site, 2. do an addition onto Fiske Elementary to hold the preschool, and 3. develop a freestanding model for potential relocation of PAWS to another site

If you can’t make it to the meeting, you can watch it on the public access TV via Wellesley Media Corporation.