BY TALI ISRAELI
Staff Writer
MARLBORO – Superintendent of Schools David Abbott made his recommendation to the Board of Education last week regarding the need for a new elementary school in the K-8 district.
Abbott’s recommendations on June 19 were similar to those of the board’s Citizens Advisory Committee, which presented its findings to the board on June 6.
Abbott believes the most critical issue facing the K-8 district is the enrollment and space needs in the Marlboro Early Learning Center, Harbor and Tennent roads. He said adding eight classrooms to MELC should be done as soon as possible.
As for the increasing enrollment in the rest of the school district, Abbott believes the board should begin to identify and acquire 15 acres in the northern section of Marlboro for the purpose of building a new elementary school. The school should accommodate 750 students and a 10-classroom special education wing. The superintendent said the board should begin the necessary preparations to place a referendum on the ballot as soon as possible.
Abbott said the district needs to lease trailers (portable classrooms) as soon as possible in order to alleviate the “inevitable mid-year pressure of increasing class sizes.”
Business Administrator Cindy Barr-Rague provided the board with a series of estimated pre-referendum costs for the architect and a construction manager. These costs include drawings of the new school and the MELC addition, applications to the state Department of Education, a land acquisition checklist and an environmental report.
The architect’s estimated cost would be $29,390 for the MELC addition and $111,500 for the new elementary school, according to Barr-Rague.
Miscellaneous fees for meetings, public presentations and site investigations will be billed on an hourly basis for an amount not to exceed $15,000, Barr-Rague said.
The total cost for the architect in order for the district to place a referendum on the ballot would be about $154,000, plus reimbursed costs.
The estimated pre-referendum cost for the construction manager would be a total of $36,800 for the MELC addition and the new school.
The total cost in order to place a referendum for both projects on the ballot would be about $200,000, Barr-Rague said.
The operational costs for a new school, which Barr-Rague said was based on what it costs to operate the Frank J. Dugan Elementary School, would be about $4.4 million.
Board member Cynthia Green said she believes $200,000 to place a referendum for both projects on the ballot is a lot of money at a time when the district is facing fiscal constraints.
Green suggested sending out a survey to the public before spending money on a referendum in order to determine how residents might respond to a ballot question. If the answer is a resounding no, Green said she would not feel comfortable spending all that money for the public to reject the referendum.
Board President Terry Spilken said building a new school is a “burning issue” that does not have time to sit idle. It is the board’s job to convince the public that this is what the district needs, he added.
“This is something we have to do … Unless you don’t care about class sizes,” Spilken said.
Following a discussion on the matter, the administration was directed by the board to send out a questionnaire to the public within the next two weeks. Spilken said the board will discuss the community’s feedback at the July 18 meeting.