School Board: We Want All Three Renovation Projects on Ballot in November

Board of Education members expressed disappointment and confusion with a recommendation by a special committee tasked with developing a plan to revitalize and repair the town's public schools as part of its meeting Monday to "slow it up," and even voted unanimously to reject the committee's recommendation and instead to recommend to the Board of Directors that the construction and renovation of three school building projects be placed on a fall referendum. 

The projects, which would see Bennet Academy combined with the former Cheney Building to create a new fifth/sixth grade campus, as well as a "like new" reconstruction of Roberston Elementary School and a newly constructed Washington Elementary School are estimated to cost Manchester taxpayers almost $40 million (the state would pick up more than half of the tab for most of the projects), but when the School Modernization and Reinvestment Team Revisited (SMARTR) Committee met recently, they decided to "slow it up," according to Michael Crockett, a Republican member of the school board who also chairs the SMARTR Committee, and only have voters decide the fate of the fifth/sixth academy at the ballot box come November. 

"Throughout the whole process,it's been a hurried process trying to get it on for the November referendum…the timing of it has always been a concern," Crockett said. "Out of consensus it came out that the best thing to do was to slow it up." 

Crockett said the committee, which is made up of members of the boards of directors and education in town as well as other members of the community, also wanted to maximize state reimbursements for the project and there was some concern that that might not be realized if both the fifth/sixth grade academy and the two elementary school projects were on the same referendum. Crockett said it would also complicate matters if voters approved the elementary schools and voted down the fifth/sixth grade academy, because then the schools would be renovated without including space for fifth grade classrooms. 

"If you pull it out, the whole plan falls apart," Crockett said of fifth/sixth grade academy, calling it the "cornerstone" of the project; the SMARTR Committee gave its recommendation at a meeting that was missed by all three other members of the Board of Education. 

But other members of the school board said the were confused and disappointed by the SMARTR Committee's recommendation to only put the fifth/sixth grade academy before voters in a November referendum, noting that the committee was formed originally to deal with the town's crumbling public schools infrastructure and that Washington and Roberston schools were both in dire need of repairs. 

"It's really disappointing that this decision was made," Sarah Walton, a Democratic member of the school board said. "I think it would be irresponsible of the board to put something out there that does not include something drastically being done at Roberston or at Washington School."

Kelly Luxenberg, a Democratic member of the school board, said she thought that if the school board did not stipulate that all three projects appear on a November referendum, it would just be another instance of "kicking the can down the road." 

"I respectfully disagree with the committees recommendation," Luxenberg said. "When I think of the cornerstone of this project, I think of the elementary schools." 

In the end, the school board voted to unanimously recommend to the Board of Directors that also three projects be placed on the ballot of a november referendum and to request a special meeting with the directors to discuss the importance of all three projects. 

"I think this is another tough decision that we should not skirt or shirk to another board," said Neal Leon, a Democratic member of the school board. 

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