EAST LONGMEADOW – Parents and residents of East Longmeadow had the opportunity to meet at a Public Forum on the High School Project on April 4 in the East Longmeadow High School cafeteria. Attendees listened to a 45–minute presentation and then asked questions and voiced concerns to the panel of local officials.

The cafeteria was filled with residents, leaving standing room only to discuss the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s (MSBA) process of selecting projects that could be welcomed into their Core program.

The Core program is a competitive grant program that is based on need and urgency, with the MSBA completing an extensive review of the submitted statement of interests (SOIs) that schools send in each year. This years SOIs are due on April 12, with schools who are selected for the program being notified in December. The East Longmeadow Public School District (ELPS) has submitted an SOI for the high school to the MSBA for the past five years, and is submitting again this year.

The School Committee along with local legislators and the superintendent met on March 29 with MSBA CEO Jim MacDonald as well as Treasurer Deb Goldberg to tour the High School and sit down for a meeting to discuss the selection process. To read a synopsis of this meeting, head over to the Reminder Publishing website at https://www.thereminder.com/localnews/eastlongmeadow/msba-treasurer-tour-high-school-discuss-statement-/.

At the start of the public forum, Superintendent Gordon Smith offered a presentation, which started with a discussion of the 2012-2013 school year when they developed a facility study for all five ELPS buildings. From this study, they developed a master plan of how to strategically plan capital projects for all of the school buildings to keep them viable for students. A previous facility study, Smith noted, had been done in 1999 to 2000.

In 2012-2013 the District began to work with architects SMMA and MJA, who looked at all five buildings, the condition they were in, what projects were emerging and what projects could be planned out in five to 10 years. As this was being put together, Smith stated, the master plan not only kept buildings moving forward but also focused on how to engage the MSBA and potentially utilize their grant program.

Over the course of this time, Smith ensured attendees that maintenance has been a priority and that the town’s Department of Public Works (DPW) has been “excellent” and that “they keep all our buildings running.” In fact, Smith said that the DPW responds to over 400 work orders a year from the school department alone.

“There were a number of leaks throughout the building,” Smith stated, and explained that this was “mostly” due to two inches of snow being on the roof and as two inches of rain was absorbed, it was akin to a “glacier running all over the building.” The morning of the leak at 7:30 a.m. Smith said the DPW was already on the roof, directing the water to the roof drains and the leaks were drying up. Additionally, Smith explained that this summer and in future summers the DPW is looking to replace 10 to 15 skylights, as this is an area where water can often get into the building.

“I know people have been concerned and we continue to be concerned around the electric system,” Smith said. He told the group of attendees that this summer the district is planning to work with National Grid to see if there are other options to mitigate the fact that the High School is reaching maximum capacity with the electric system.

Over the course of the last three years, the MSBA has invited 44 schools into their Core program. In 2016, 17 schools were invited, in 2017, 15 schools were invited and in 2018, 12 schools were invited. The declining number of schools that were welcomed into the program is due to rising construction costs. The MSBA is given the same amount of money annually, and has been forced to select less schools for the program each year to accommodate the increase in cost. “With all the aging buildings across Mass., it’s an extremely competitive process to get into,” Smith said.

Both Lorraine Finnegan and Philip Poinelli of SMMA took over the presentation and shared that currently, looking forward to the district’s size, there will be a “steady uptick.”

Continuing, Poinelli noted that some of the High School’s current classroom sizes are 975 square feet. Today’s size recommendation is 1,450 square feet.

“We’re looking at science classrooms that are not only poorly configured, but they are 40 percent smaller than what’s recommended for contemporary learning,” Poinelli said.

Finnegan explained that she has been working with the MSBA and working on schools for 20 years. “They have a very rigorous process that they make every community follow so that there is a very clear understanding from the district and the community what you’ve evaluated, what your options are, how much it costs, how much the eligible grant they will provide will be and how much is on the district,” she said.
From January through April of each calendar year, districts are open to submit their SOI to the MSBA. After the SOI is submitted, the MSBA reviews all of the submissions. In 2018, 83 schools submitted SOIs.  Once each SOI is reviewed for completeness, if the MSBA thinks specific districts are one of the ones that could potentially be selected, they will go out to each school to do a senior study.

“That doesn’t guarantee anything. Last year they did about 40 senior studies and 12 moved forward, but it’s a step in the right direction,” Finnegan explained.

Once the districts that are selected to move into the eligibility period, each district has 270 days to complete it. Within that periods, districts have to “get a lot of pieces together,” file certificates, form a school building committee, enrollment needs to be agreed upon, an owners project manager needs to be funded and passed with money appropriated.  Following this period, a feasibility study would be conducted with an average length of nine months. After the study is conducted, the MSBA must approve it to move into the schematic design process, which can take roughly six months.

Upon the completion of the schematic design, the district must vote to fund the entire project. At this point in time, Finnegan explained, the town is “setting in ink” the anticipated cost of the build, what the agreement is, the size of the building, the district share as well as the MSBA’s maximum grant.

Following this vote, the design is completed. The design of a high school that is approximately 185,000 to 190,000 square feet takes roughly a year, Finnegan warned. When the design is complete, the building can be constructed in two years, and then there is a closeout period.

“Not to be the bearer of the bad news, but all in all its anywhere from six to six-and-a-half years,” Finnegan said.

Backtracking, Finnegan noted that for every project that is chosen to enter into the Core program’s eligibility period, there are four options studied: fix what’s broken only, look at renovation only, look at a renovation-addition option, or a new construction option. “You can’t jump to a new construction option even if everyone says that’s what they want,” Finnegan said, each option must be studied. “You have to understand every impact of all four options before you move forward with what is called a preferred alternative.”

In the process of reviewing the SOI’s that are submitted by school districts to the MSBA for the Core program, the MSBA looks at eight categories that apply to schools that could potentially grant them access into the program. Categories three, five, and seven all apply to East Longmeadow. The eight categories are as follows: one: structurally unsound, two: elimination of severe overcrowding, three: a loss of accreditation, four: prevention of severe overcrowding in the future, five: modernization of school facilities, six: short-term enrollment growth, seven: replacement of an obsolete building, eight: transition from court ordered schools.

“Now I don’t want anyone to think that you’re potentially losing accreditation,” Finnegan said. “But it is something that when NESDEC [the New England School Development Council] comes out and does their study, they flag the school for items. It is not necessarily the red flag for MSBA, they will look at what are those items. It does help you move up on this list.”

Local dignitaries offered their support for the work that the School Committee, Town Council and its residents are all doing to move the project forward. Questions from the audience ensued, with one resident asking if they should mail letters of support of East Longmeadow entering into the Core program to the town. State Rep. Brian Ashe encouraged any residents who would like to send a letter to do so but send it to the MSBA instead.

“As much as we appreciate you writing us a letter, you’re really better served writing the MSBA. We get your support. MSBA needs to know your support, if they say East Longmeadow, we’re picking you, they have to know the town is going to support it,” Ashe said.

A resident asked Smith if there is a plan in place if something were to happen to the building, for example black mold or if the school continues to have roof problems. “Do we have a plan in place of somewhere to house the student if something like that happens?” he asked.

The superintendent responded stating that they do have plans in place, and one of the parts to that plan is working with the DPW to prevent future issues. “The mold issue, that’s something that has never occurred but we do consistently do projects and we do air testing,” Smith said.

In response to another resident question, Smith shared that if the High School was to enter into the MSBA’s accelerated repair program, as opposed to the Core program, the accelerated program only covers windows, roofs, doors and boilers. “If we were accepted, you can’t then move into the Core program. If you were to do that you’d be paying back MSBA money that you got for windows, roofs, doors boilers,” Smith said.

The MSBA’s reimbursement rate is 55 percent on eligible items, however the MSBA has a series of caps on every item. For example, Finnegan explained to the crowd, the MSBA does not offer any funding toward a pool. If the High School wanted to put in a new pool, the cost would be 100 percent on the town.

Resident Susan Mantoni questioned that looking at eligibility, what would happen to East Longmeadow’s standing in the Core program if the schools enrollment does drop because they started to lose students to Pope Francis or Wilbraham and Monson Academy. Poinelli stated that the district’s SOI is only being submitted for three of the categories that were previously mentioned, and overcrowding is not one.