(Photo/Laura Hayes)
SOUTHBOROUGH – The Neary Building Committee is planning to meet Aug. 12 and could narrow the three options it is considering for Neary Elementary School to one.
“We’re making a recommendation that will be brought forward to the town that will likely impact residents for 50 plus years. Our ask is that they educate themselves on the project — the pros and cons of what we’re proposing … and what the cost is to them and whether it is an inhibiting factor for their own personal financial situation,” said Neary Building Committee Chair Jason Malinowski.
There are impacts to whatever the community decides, he said.
“If we do nothing, then we’re just prolonging the inevitable and putting bandaids on the structure and query how long it can be safe to be a school,” he said. “If we do a two-grade school, then it is going to force us to have to look at the Finn School in a very short period of time, which is also of the same vintage in terms of age … It has just been the beneficiary of a few additions, but no significant modifications to its core. Then obviously if we do a four-grade school, it solves our capital needs for the foreseeable future outside of minimal things like roofing and those items that you change on regular frequency.”
History
About four years ago, the School Committee’s Capital Planning Subcommittee had been meeting regularly with the Capital Improvement and Planning Committee. Malinowski, who also chairs the Capital Improvement and Planning Committee, recalled that the groups were looking at the capital needs at Neary and decided to approach the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to enter into the authority’s eligibility period.
The town was successful and entered the eligibility period.
As part of that process, the committees needed to go to the town and get funding for a feasibility study, which was subsequently approved at Town Meeting. The project was moved forward in the MSBA process and into the feasibility study.
Malinowski said the feasibility study process is to get the project narrowed to one preferred option that would be brought before the town for funding at some point next spring.
“Obviously, when you’re looking at a school, there’s a lot of things that go into that both from an educational visioning perspective, but also what does the community need now and into the future and also looking at the cost,” Malinowski said.
A subcommittee was formed with the goal to study the enrollment of Southborough Public Schools. According to Malinowski, as part of the work, the committee considered whether having students change elementary schools every two grades was the best model for Southborough moving forward.
Currently, Finn is home to kindergarten and first grade followed by Woodward, which has second and third grade classrooms, and Neary, which has fourth and fifth grade.
Malinowski said while there are educational reasons as to why changing schools every two grades isn’t the best model, from a capital perspective, the town hasn’t invested in a significant capital project at any of the elementary schools in 25 to 30 years.
Neary was constructed in 1970. According to Superintendent Greg Martineau, the educational visioning and mission was different at that time compared to today.
He said the school has served the community well. However, he noted that the facility is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the district has fit its programs into the space, but it is not logical. For example, if a student receives IEP services, that student has to travel to a different space versus receiving it within the neighborhood of a grade level.
According to Martineau, there aren’t a lot of opportunities for small group work or breakout rooms or to build “a sense of community the way classrooms are organized.” Music and art rooms and the gymnasium aren’t designed for the programs of today, he said.
“So, what we’re trying to do with the decision in front of us today is balancing what we’ve learned over 25 to 30 years of the decisions that were made by our predecessors and trying to set the town up for continued success into the future,” Malinowski said.
According to MySouthborough, the building committee is considering three options — an addition and renovation for four grades, a brand new two-grade building and a new four-grade building.
According to Martineau, one of the reasons why the building committee is examining both the two grade and, in particular, a four grade option is because the district currently has redundant programs and services with the three buildings.
“But also, our faculty and staff and leadership team spend a lot of time welcoming new families and students into a new school, and then immediately the next year, they’re working on exiting and transitioning families to the next transition,” Martineau said.
He said the district would like to spend its time building longer lasting relationships with families and focusing on the mission and vision.
“We think a four-grade span really would help us use our time differently and maximize our resources,” he said.
The one option will then be submitted to the state.
For more information on the project, visit https://www.nearybuilding.com/ or signup at https://tinyurl.com/4u3wcf9z. Questions can be emailed to [email protected].
The meeting will be Aug. 12 at 6 p.m. in the Public Safety Building. For information on how to watch the meeting, visit https://ma-southborough.civicplus.com/524/Neary-School-Building-Committee—Ad-Hoc.
