School Renovations Talk at Info Session

The $21.5 million bond that would renovate three of Salem's elementary schools has been a project several years in the making, according to school and project officials at Thursday night's information session on the topic.

A good crowd, including many school administrators, gathered in the Media Center for the session on Article 2 on this year's warrant, which represents Phase II of the school district's facilities master plan and would renovate the , and Elementary Schools.

The session included an overview on the history leading up to the proposed plan by School Board member Pamela Berry, a look at the proposed plan itself from project architect Chris Drobat of Lavallee Brensinger Architects and an explanation of enrollment history from SAU 57 Superintendent Michael Delahanty.

Berry said the roots of the plan date to May 2005, when goals were established to address issues at Salem High School. When public kindergarten was mandated by the legislature a few years later, Berry said the focus needed to shift. In 2008, an article failed that would have explored plans for changes at Salem High.

A facilities master plan addressing all of the schools was devised and completed in 2009. Berry said that in addition to the completed Phase I renovations that saw work for , and Elementary Schools, Phase II is planned to be completed between 2012 and 2014, Phase III at the high school between 2014 and 2017 and Phase IV at between 2017 and 2019.

Drobat gave a presentation similar to the one he gave to Budget Committee during their recent votes, giving an overview of the work that will be done at the three elementary schools should the bond pass. He also explained that the first year of the bond would cost $30 in taxes per $1,000 of valued property for a $300,000 home. That would jump to $87 in the second year.

Drobat mentioned low bond rates and that despite an uptick in construction costs it is still "a good time" to build now.

If the bond is not passed, Drobat said the district would be forced to spend $40,000 per year on temporary classrooms, the facilities master plan would be "halted" and improvements on safety, security and educational spaces would be put off.

Right now the schools do not meet safety code standards, Drobat said, nor do they meet state or federal education standards either.

"You'd be forced to make just incremental improvements over the next 10 years," Drobat said.

Delahanty addressed the issues of enrollment that have been discussed as rationale for this project or alternative projects. He presented a partial list of data for elementary enrollment dating back to 1980. Full data is expected to be on the school district website today, but what follows is what Delahanty mentioned Thursday night:

* = These are the only years to include kindergarten students.

"We're at more than 150 students more than where we were in 1980-81, with the same facilities," Delahanty said.

He added the district is projected to have 1,612 elementary students in 2013-2014, 15 below the figure in from 34 years before.

"Fluctuations in enrollments occur over short time periods," Delahanty said.

He also made his most forceful comments to date on passing the bond, speaking of the difficult teaching conditions in the schools.

"You don't learn in a storage closet," Delahanty said. "You don't teach appropriately in a storage closet."

Delahanty said he'd heard many alternative plans about renovations but strongly endorsed the facilities master plan, which renovates all of Salem's schools.

"The facilities plan was designed to move us ahead," he said. "That's what it's going to do. If we avoid the opportunity now, we just re-analyze all of the information we've already analyzed and we eventually become paralyzed by this analysis."

No members of the audience came forward when the forum was opened up for questions.