LETTER: Unfortunately, I Will Be Voting No

The following is a letter to the editor. To submit your own, email michael.ryan@patch.com

By Dennis Senibaldi

This coming election, we will be voting on warrant article #2, for the appropriation of $711,000 dollars for engineering and design for a new middle school on London Bridge Rd.  Unfortunately, I will be voting no, because this is not the right plan to pursue.  While it may address the capacity issues, it does not address the fiduciary responsibility the School Board has to the residents of Windham.  I know this, because I was a member on the facilities committee and helped develop the current master plan.  Within this plan, we evaluated a five building scenario and determined that there were several issues with this scenario.  The two main issues were additional transitions and a higher operational cost.  When talking about transitions, the principals and educators that were also on the facilities committee concurred that less transitions were educationally more desirable.  As to operational cost, we worked with the engineer from Lavallee Brensinger and Adam Steel, the School District’s business administrator, and determined that it would cost more to operate a stand-alone fifth building. 

            These issues along with others is what made the five building scenario one of the least desirable options, it ranked fourth out of five.  The additional operating cost has been described by the School Board as minimal, but is $600,000 dollars really minimal?  The kicker is that number is only for the additional staff required and does not include bussing or grounds maintenance.  When it is all said and done, and from what I have seen, the operating cost will be more in the realm of $800,000 or more per year, every year.  Additionally, the School Board asked the residents to approve $140,000 last year to do exactly what they are asking for money to do this year, but that money, according to the School District’s Business Administrator, was not spent on that.  The money that was approved last year was to come up with a guaranteed maximum price to put an addition on Middle School. So why does it cost so much more money to do the same thing for a stand-alone school? 

            Finally, and probably my biggest sticking point, is that Lavalle Brensinger was not given the opportunity to rebut the peer review report of their work product.  I will tell you that I asked that very question to a senior administrative official at the deliberative session, and I was shocked at the answer.  The answer I got was “because I said no.” That is just not how business should be done when we are contemplating spending $24 million or so.  This is why I will be voting NO on warrant article #2.

Respectfully Submitted,

Dennis Senibaldi