Robinson School Building Committee - Regular Meeting

Right? Because I can check that now. Okay. All right. I'm just going to hit record so I remember. Oh, I set it up to record automatically. I mean, you know, never mind. I'd make a lot of jokes, but um okay. I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Robinson School Building Committee for Tuesday, April 8th. And we will take a minute to just um see if anybody from the public is going to join us. And for public comment and I'll remind you to that we're going to um review the meeting minutes. So if you have any feedback, that'll be next. One person. Oh, it's just John. Okay. John, if you say yes to the pan to the buttons promoting you to panelist, you'll be able to um turn on your video. Okay, great. Okay, so nobody from the public will move on from public comment. I just like to take a minute and leave that there. Um any feedback or edits on the meeting minutes from March 25th? Yeah. Nope. Okay, I'll take a motion to approve those. So moved. Thanks, Chris. And a second, please. Yep. Kevin. Okay. All in favor of approving those minutes? Kevin? Yeah. I'm an I. Kristen. I. Jeff. I. I. Lindsay. Yes. Allison. Yes. Um, Dr. Chu, yes. and John or Tom,

whoever is ready to vote. I we can be a team. I Okay, great. Thank you. That's nine to zero. Okay. All right. So, let's move on to um actions taken since our last meeting. Um so, the certification of vote um from the town clerk as well as that exhibit A document have been sent over to the MSBA. Um, am I missing any other detail there that's worth adding? No feedback. Okay, great. Um, and then there was an update to the website to just mark that the vote had happened and that the process is starting. Um, we can if you if you have any feedback on the wording there, please let me or Kathy know um and we can make any edits. We also um Allison has offered to investigate um a potential second um alternate website, right? So, um, we're going to kind of slowly, uh, investigate that idea and it would give a little bit more control instead of adding it to Cathy's plate as we get further in this process, um, to be able to make ethics and that we do that with some other um, some individual schools have a Google site that builds off the Civic Civics Plus site. So, that was um, the intention there. Yeah, Kristen. So, we're investigating the same thing for our economic development function on the town side and Mike Wells is actually looking at this with Civic Plus. So, um before we go down a rabbit hole of trying to reinvent the wheel, um if we want to reach out to Mike Wells to see what he's finding related to economic development and see if it's a good fit for this project, I totally understand if it's not a good fit, but I' i'd like that investigated if

possible. Okay. Thanks. I didn't know that was up. Um okay. Anything else that I missed there on those quick steps? So um also since the last meeting we did briefly discuss the um timeline and there was a clarifying question that we had based on the data um the timeline that Lindsay had put together and we I followed up by te uh emailing the MSBA contact to ask if to confirm whether Westford was on their next board of directors MSBA um which was April 30th and Maria, our MSBA contact, confirmed that Westford is not on the April 30th meeting. Um and just fun things we're learning as we go through this process is that they have a set schedule for this executive board of directors. Um and there so the next meeting from then would be June 25th. So, I still think it's kind of worth poking at as we go through this because as Dr. Chu pointed out, all of the deadlines are sort of lined up to this meeting schedule. So, I just want to make sure that we're we're not missing any miscommunicating anything that um it just seems like it's built for April 30th. So, um we'll just verify that one more time with Maria. Did you want to add anything, Dr. Chu? No, just again the reminder that yeah, our deadlines were all April 28th, two days before the 30th. So it seems like that would be seems weird to make us wait for June after having deadlines in April. But we're grateful for their partnership. We're just want to double check. But it I mean it's possible that other I mean now that I say that out

loud, maybe we're just looking at our deadlines and that's what it made sense to us. But for them, maybe that's giving them the, you know, the two months that they need to be prepared for the meeting in June after we've given them everything that they want. So that that is a possibility as well, too. And maybe the folks who are on the April 30th, maybe actually had a, you know, January deadline or something, right? Yeah. It's like a fun little learning curve to figure out how this is going to all work. Yeah, Lindsay. Yeah. I mean, I think I was just going to say the same thing, Dr. Ch. I think maybe if we could if we're double-checking with Maria on the April meeting, also just getting a sense of where we fall because obviously there's other projects that are in various stages across the state, where we fall in for the June meeting just to make sure we are not, you know, bumped to the August meeting. Got it. Um I I'll just help us set the timeline kind of there. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Um because last meeting we had kind of talked about that time the the next steps and when we thought um like for this group really the next biggest thing will be that OPM selection and one of the things we had talked about as a group was who might have that bandwidth to commit to that you know sort of intensive process and what I I'm hoping to do is to be able to like give everybody a like a two week window to be able to look at their own personal calendar and say, "Yes, I commit to this," or, "No, I don't." Um, but we I just don't think we're ready to do that until we know for sure which meeting um agenda the MSBA commits to to giving us. So, um Okay. And and uh thanks for that clarification, Lindsay, because I do plan to email Maria after this meeting.

Um, I just wanted to make sure to see if there was any discussion that I wanted to capture in that email from the next order of business, which is the enrollment certification. Certification. Wow. So, um, I did attach it to, um, the email to the committee. Hopefully, everybody had a chance to look at it there. It's about a six-page email from them. Um, and there's a lot of information in there. um to I didn't I didn't I didn't guess I didn't plan this but Dr. Ch do you want to walk us through that email or highlight some areas? Sure. Direct the conversation since I have already read it. I don't have it in front of me. Um okay. Want me to walk through it? I need to have it in front of me. But it basically that it as I'm as I'm getting that the uh you know that this response this is a the letter that came back as a response to the meeting that we had with them where they had also asked for some clarifying information about uh about um our enrollment projections. And so then they the letter itself talks again about their methodology which was similar to the presentation that they shared with us. But then it shows the adjustments that they made based on the pro the enrollment projections that they were considering and then they are then establishing what they believe to be the baseline enrollment projections for the building. The interesting piece about this is that while we shared with them information that would look at whether or not we are including the day school as one of the elementary schools to be for for the for students to be um distributed through in the great grade reconfigurations if you will or

whether we were trying to also absorb day school into a project. They didn't take any of that into account in the letter. So, I feel like there's some questions there that we need to ask them about that. Uh, hold on. I'm still just searching as I'm talking. Still trying to search for that email, too. Okay. I'm Do you see it on your screen? I'm sharing. You share it on the screen. No, because I left the Oh, okay. Sorry. So much easier. I was in my email trying to find it. Okay, good. Thank you. Um, sorry to put you on the spot. I just No, no, no worries. No worries. So, if you one of the things that um that we actually did just discover, Kathy looked at this and I she might have shared this with you, Valerie, but she did. We actually think that there's a mistake in their 2025 numbers. If you look right there where you where you're hovering that they have they well, it is a mistake. They have for some reason 1397 listed for our 9 to2 population, but we actually have 1497 there. So, it's off by 100. Um, yeah. So, uh, we were Kathy, did you did you happen to notice I know I I didn't expect you to look at all of that, um, yet, but did you get did you look to see if you saw any other discrepancies? Um, I didn't um focus on anything other than the 24 25, but I can do that today and share that with Valerie because I know she's going to be Yeah, I think if we're gonna if we're if we can just to double check since we found one, there might be another one. Absolutely. I'll do that after this call. Thanks. And Kathy and I had just chatted about who would email um Maria highlighting the correction and I just offered to because I wanted to sort of um have this meeting first and and and consolidate any questions follow questions we have. So thanks for highlighting that. So yeah, so to reiterate what you said, I mean it it doesn't explicitly say day. I guess the question is whether

or not it it's built into that 750 number. So what they do say, what's nice is that, you know, in black and white it does say the district would like the feasibility study to examine the potential for consolidation with the Abbott school, right? So that's helpful to have that um um in black and white there. Um, and then like they they do this 10-year enrollment and while there is an error we error in the secondary, it doesn't impact the follow on analyses because it's focused on elementary. Um, but obviously I do support just doing a quick due diligence to make sure. Um, and then they have a a quick comparison of the current enrollment versus the 10-year max and then the 10-year average. So, you can see that we're down um 8.9% from the 10-year max and 3.1% from the 10-year average. And then this is where I was I just wanted to make sure we noticed that they do they do say this sentence that the district is they understand that the district is proposing 750 students in a school. Now does that match that um February email that we sent to them? It was one of the one of them. Okay. We looked at the scenario. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Um okay. So then then they walk through a bit more of um their their enrollment adjustments. Do you want to just um summarize? Well, one one piece of this is also that they're as they start talking about the numbers then while because we have preschool as part of it, they don't

typically um include preschool. So the so the numbers that they're talking about they keep saying does not include the preschool population. Um so that's just an interesting thing to consider. Uh that they're that they're saying that so that's where I feel like it it it stays in line with what we said. Like we said 750 we were including preschool population. they're saying, you know, is that their their number eventually ends up being like 705, I think. Um, but they say that it doesn't include the preschool population, but yet we do know that there would be that that would be a part of this project. It's just that they don't count those numbers. Um, as far as uh you know, the way in which they they looked at all this and kind of broke it down. I'm not sure as it's I'm not sure exactly what you wanted me to break down here, Valerie. I'm sorry. No, it's okay. I guess I just want to make sure it seems like they're pulling out two pieces, which is the outofd district enrollment and the development. And I just want to make sure that we highlight that for the rest of the committee. Okay. To fully understand whether this is like a decision point or or anywhere to to gather feedback or discussion. Yeah, I mean it did look it did look relatively straightforward to me and that they were just basically saying when we look at the overall en enrollment we are because they are talking about are all of the kids they're not talking about just kids at one school because they keep talking about the the district numbers and so the idea being that if you look at the right where your where your cursor is right about there they're saying that you know that they are acknowledging that just at the Robinson school that could be a difference of five students and So the the proposed consolidation it could actually be upwards of 20 students

um of the fluctuation aspect. So knowing that of students that we're that could also end up being out of out of district enrollments at some point. It's not they're trying to project something that is very difficult to project. We also all know that, you know, predicting special education is is very different is difficult in the first place. So that the fact that they're including this in here, I did think was a a bit of a surprise, but I think they just know that it's a as it is a piece of, you know, I wonder do it. I wondered if this was almost their way of acknowledging like so in the information that we sent to them I felt like we were ve being very clear about the district's commitment to um you know build programming inhouse in district that you know expanding our programming expanding our special ed programs and so I kind of felt like this was their acknowledgement of that Like if they were saying like your your expanded programming could bring five students from out of district because otherwise it's kind of weird for a building project to be tracking who might be out of district. Well, there is a possibility that with increased space that also gives us the opportunity to bring back students from out of um out of district placement. Um and then just um to speak to the preschool point, uh we currently have 35 students uh in the preschool, which if you add to the um enrollment of 705 of a consolidation, you know, that puts us right about at the 750 uh mark that we were requesting as a prek to five anyway. Um, and that

doesn't include the possibility of adding perhaps another section of preschool as well. Yeah, thank you. Um, Valerie, I think I I think you're right. Um, I think they they were they're acknowledging the work that we sent to them that talked about the dedicated spaces that exist for our for our programs um within the district. And so I think that's that might be a piece of why they're including that. Do you have any insight, Lindsay, into this letter or what you think they're highlighting by I don't unfortunately. Um um I mean can we request just a walkth through with Maria and she just can walk us through the letter and we can ask our questions or someone on her team? Yeah, she did say she did say that we could Yeah, I think that would be most efficient. Okay. Just because we want to we want to get this right. Right. We don't I mean, as much as we want to move fast, uh we want to get this right. Yeah. So to zip to the end for anyone who didn't get a chance to preview it, um this certification in is intended to be returned and signed by April 21st to confirm agre agreement on this. You we're basically setting a size of the project at this step. Um and so that's that's so critical to all the other steps that come after it. I I think you're right that this makes sense to just um request a call. One thing that would be interesting uh to know and we talked about it with regard to and it's in here with regard to the window project at Robinson which is past 10 years now. um

is the possibility of having to do some pr-rated uh recovered amount from the Abbott school if that does if a project were to begin and completed prior to I don't know 2028 I guess I would say because you you had clarified at one point is it seven years past a project that they no longer require recovery or is it I no I'm not sure. I've seen it I've seen a range from 10 to to 20 years depending on what the project was. I thought it was 10. I thought 10 as well but um I could be mistaken. I think it just impacts what the what the potential recovery is. And they you know they also say in this letter that they're not going to identify what that is until um Yeah. Right. It says right there until the the until the conclusion design. Yeah. So, I mean it's not a surprise. We knew that those um past projects existed. Um it's just I think that waiting to see what they I mean there's there's nothing really else to do at this point that I think right as opposed to just keep going through the process and find out what they tell us at that point. Right. at least and the end of the schematic design will schematic design still puts us that is what that's the information that we will be looking at when we come back with whatever the request is to the meeting so we'll have information then exactly right um I just want to hop back up I I appreciate you raising that Kevin because I don't want to lose sight of that but there was I just want to make sure that the committee understands fans as a whole that we're um you know that

there this is also a point where they're acknowledging um the townwide uh housing development and how that plays into the to the calculations for the size of the project as well because I know you know I know we'll get that question from the community especially as um I know there's a project that's being that's in front of the planning board um 37 P road. Thank you. Um, so I just want to make sure we are all well verssed in how they're accounting for it. Um, so it looks like they're proposing 15 students if it's just the Robinson school or 35 an addition of 35 students for a K to 5 school to account for uh development new housing developments. Um, okay. This is some of that work we did with this there. The next paragraph is acknowledging the work we did with the um sort of that tracking of the classroom A's from that space usage work. And then it starts to talk about um the point Kevin made about the previous projects. So, with all that said, here's their final um their final proposal. 470 for K to2 plus preK or 705 for K to 5 plus preK. So, the timing of this I I mean we can ask for the meeting. I just want to see how people feel about this. Um, if there are any open questions from anybody else on the committee

and if you feel like it's worth meeting again before the deadline to return this to them or if people are comfortable with this discussion and like Dr. Chu, myself and Lindsay having a follow-up call with MSBA. So, I would just go ahead Kristen. I would just like to ask Maria um if we could have an extension to the 23rd. Um I know Dr. Chu and I have had this uh conversation on email, but it does ask for a signature of the chief executive officer. That is the select board. They meet on August on April 22nd. They have not authorized me to sign this letter on their behalf yet. So, um I know Dr. or two may have a different opinion, but I still think that if we're questioning some of the things in the letter and want to walk through it, asking for a two-day extension may be appropriate. Can you clarify is it the is it that other attachment that specifies who signs? Yes. Yeah. Okay, I'll pull that up while you Did you want to add add anything, Dr. Chu? No, I was just going to say I think it's a I I think that that's a that could just be a clarifying question as to what because one of the things that I had shared with Kristen was that when the MSBA specifically wants votes from the select board or from the school committee, they've also articulated that. And since they didn't, I'm curious as to whether from their perspective if what their expectation would be and whether or not, you know, whether and again if Kristen if Kristen needs the select board to authorize her to sign it on their behalf versus her ability to to just be able to sign that what they're thinking and if for some reason but if they're not willing to give us an extension, then we would just need to know because if that needs to happen, then I think we need to try to see if we have a a select board meeting take place off schedule before the 21st if if

necessary. Yeah, I can't pull up that email quick enough. I'm pulling up her January email. Shoot. Anyway, um okay. So, who signs and is a vote typical and is an extension? Who signs Okay. Um, how does anybody John, I saw you unmute. Did you have anything to add? Well, I was just thinking, you know, if we had to, we could we could I would be up for a special meeting if we had to do that if if the extension doesn't work. Um, so I mean, do whatever it takes. Did you have any clarifying questions on the what what's covered in the letter? No, not really. I think my question is going to uh kind of come around the the schedule how we're going to do the OPM make sure we're ready for that. Did you get that contract? I sent you the the template that they have on the website. It was after the last meeting, I think. So, it's probably I think I don't think I looked at it. I just uh uh I guess my concern is I don't want to get caught in any kind of a cramped time frame and get behind the curve doing that. And uh we we had experience with the OPM contracts. Um and I just wanted to make sure as we look at our schedule and the way the MSBA schedule is running, uh make sure we have enough time to do that when it's when it's needed. Yeah. Okay. Any other thoughts on um whether this whether this committee would is supportive of this general direction of

just some clarifying questions and then moving forward or if there's anything that people feel like need to come back. I guess that's what I'm looking for. People good with what's been covered. Okay. I'm seeing some head nods. Okay. All right, that works for me. Um, so I'll as soon as this meeting ends, I'll get that email off to Maria. Um, and um, we'll see where that takes us. Um, the only other sort of immediate next step we have that I wanted to just keep stay on top of was an update on second site locations. I know I don't know if anything's happened in between the last meeting and this. Oh, let me stop sharing. And it's okay if there's no update. I just wanted to make, you know, to keep the cadence of it. Yeah, I need to check in with land use. Thank you for the reminder. Okay. Okay. Well, that's pretty much what we have today. Um, it's kind of a holding pattern until we get more. So, so our next meeting would be Great. Thank you, Alison. And while you're looking at that, um I do have a call with Capital Strategic Solutions, our communications consultant, on Thursday just to preview this with them. Um we are using them so much that our budget is, you know, shortening by the day, but I'm hoping that we could get this as a special project with them. I will have an update for the group um after that call. Um and you know, knowing that this is going to be a long duration time frame, I think we need to be as strategic as possible about our outreach. Yeah, I I guess my um thought for that for your meeting with them would just be that if they have um like suggestions or lessons learned

from other projects, um I'm happy to to be nuts and bolts on on, you know, and have some of that come from the committee um as opposed to adding it to their workload and having them be the lead on it. But it would be great to just kind of have their professional opinion on it. Okay, that's great feedback. Thank you. Yeah, as opposed so it's like, you know, a call once or twice versus, you know, they're creating content. Um, but thank you for that update on site se and then communications. Okay. Um, so Allison, next meeting. So, if we're not rushing for uh that deadline, maybe it just makes sense to check in when after that would be passed in. Um, and that gives us a one more update on um, does end of April sound good? Or maybe that gives us another check-in from um, land use. We might have some information on that. A check-in on communication. So, it might not be MSBA focused, but more um well, we I'm sure we'll have an update, but So, how about the Tuesday the April 29th? Seeing some head nods. Is that okay, Kristen? I'm gonna I'm gonna be at a state house event. Um but certainly you can meet without me. Okay. I think we have it on the calendar right now as Okay. Can I just see the head nods again to just Okay. All right. Great. Because I know that today was a conflict for some. I So I want to make sure we just have a critical mass. Okay. Um All right. So we'll I'll we'll plan

for April 29th. Um and uh see you then. So I'll take a motion to adjurnn. So move, John. Second. Kristen. Thank you. Okay. Bye everybody. Have a have a great afternoon. Thanks everybody. Thank you. Bye.