Multi-million Dale Street project could be grade 3-5 combo

"This is going to be a significant investment, much more so than what the town has ever seen before...the committee should think about having public meetings...sooner vs. later," Tim Bonfatti, former School Committee member; Permanent Planning & Building Committee member; Sept. 17, 2018.

It's no secret that the Dale Street School, built in the midst of WWII, has been on the Medfield high-priority list for renovation or replacement for years. And thanks to a December 2017 invitation to enter into a state building grant program, plus a $1-million preliminary commitment by taxpayers at the June 2018 Town Meeting, it's quite possible Medfield could get a new or renovated elementary school by 2023.

Based on recent updates, two challenging issues have surfaced about the much-needed project that focus on grade configuration and the potential size of the building to accommodate projected enrollments -- both of which will heavily influence the impact on Medfield taxpayers.

Over the past year, the Medfield School Committee has discussed various aspects of the initiative, projected in 2017 to cost $21-25 million for a complete renovation of the current building if school use is continued (price tag would be smaller for office/recreational use), with the expectation that Massachusetts School Building Authority will provide a 38.84% reimbursement of eligible school-related costs to the town, according to a feasibility project document on the school website.

According to Jan. 8, 2018 School Committee meeting minutes, Dale Street School Building Project Chair Michael Quinlan noted (with Committee agreement), that the project will be "transparent" with "as much information as possible generated on the websites and sent out to the community for review." Using the meeting tape as further clarification, Bonfatti was particularly explicit about the expectation of a "series of community forums before defining what a building would look like" and that "this will be a very open and transparent process because it's a huge investment and they (building projects) are not successful" if people feel otherwise. (One of the first actions noted in the feasibility project document was the anticipation of "visioning sessions" in fall 2018.)

So far, school officials have submitted required documents to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) according to a set schedule of deliverables, including an educational profile, enrollment projections, and a list of Dale building committee members.

While initial enrollment projections and the committee member list deadlines were July 2 and June 1 respectively, both have since required revisions. However, the educational profile has remained the same, but has not yet been made publicly available via the district website as of this writing. While an August district request for the profile was unfulfilled, the MSBA provided that document, as well as others related to enrollment projections and the committee list as of Sept. 14 based on a Public Record Request. The files are described below with links embedded, along with a note about public meetings.

- Educational Profile - Submitted to MSBA in June by Superintendent Jeffrey Marsden, this document provides details on both current and proposed program offerings, grade configurations, space use, teaching methodology, and other information. The Profile also expresses the desire for a grade 3-5 reconfiguration and notes, “If this project is successful, we will no longer need the current Dale Street School, and the Town of Medfield and Medfield School Department will discuss future uses of the building.”

- Enrollment Projections - A final enrollment projection certification letter was recently received from MSBA and was provided to the Board of Selectmen to review and sign at its Oct. 30 meeting; it was previously read aloud at the Oct. 22 School Committee meeting by Superintendent Marsden. He noted that based on the letter, it is unlikely MSBA will reimburse expenses related to a re-configuration of grades; it will only take into account costs associated with Dale Street School.

While the newly received enrollment certification letter has not yet been posted, a preliminary e-mail from MSBA provided much of the same information, including the projected need for a building that can accommodate 575 students for grade 4-5, or 860 students for grades 3-5. (For comparison purposes, based on the MA DESE web site, the total 2017/18 Dale Street enrollment was 365 students; for 3rd grade only at Wheelock School, it was 183 students; for a combined grade 3-5, enrollment was 548 students. Elementary enrollment for the 2018/19 school year is said to be higher than last year, but confirmed numbers were not readily available.)

- Committee Members - Since the May 2018 submission of the Dale Street School Building Committee member list, two members have departed or changed roles, including Bonfatti who recently resigned from the school committee, but is expected to stay on the project team. At the Oct. 22 School Committee meeting, it was noted that another member (with voting powers) would be appointed to the Dale Street group; this action item was on the agenda for the Nov. 5 School Committee meeting with Leo Brehm ultimately appointed to the committee.

- Public Meetings - It is unclear when meetings of the new Dale Street School Building Committee will begin, or when the "visioning sessions" or community forums will be scheduled, but it was noted at the Sept. 17 School Committee meeting it would happen "sooner vs. later" with early 2019 as a target, possibly with an MSBA representative present. Based on informal feedback from one municipal attorney, "a local school building committee which MSBA requires the municipality to establish" should fall within the legal definition of a "public body" thereby requiring it to hold regular meetings open to the public. As such, citizens should be able to keep abreast of business conducted by the new Dale Street committee via posted meeting notices and minutes as the initiative moves ahead.

In the meantime, Medfield residents are welcome to provide public input at the beginning of any School Committee meeting. The next one is 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 3 in the Medfield High School library.

Bonfatti noted on Sept. 17, the project will be "largely School Committee driven." To hear his comments from that meeting, click here. He also provided insights at the Jan. 2, 2018 Board of Selectmen meeting.

As president of Compass Project Management in Norwood, Bonfatti manages school, municipal, higher education, and other types of building projects. Quinlan is a senior project manager at Compass.

Anyone interested in receiving electronic meeting alerts and notices about virtually any town board or committee can sign up here. Residents can contact Assistant Town Administrator Kristine Treirweiler at ktreirweiler@medfield.net for more information.