'Town lease proposal' for Region 12 elementary schools seen as "prudent".
News-Times Staff
Article Last Updated: 12/06/2007 04:48:20 PM EST
To the Editor:
Here is why the Bridgewater, Roxbury and Washington town lease proposal for the three elementary schools is the prudent and reasonable thing to do.
1. We have had 20 years of a delayed maintenance program that has left our schools in poor condition.
2. The town proposal is for annual payments by the region to a "Capital Repairs Fund" in each town dedicated for the region to use on elementary school repairs. This will ensure that the money will be available for ongoing repairs when they are needed.
3. The repair fund payments -- Bridgewater ($38,000), Roxbury ($48,000) and Washington ($69,000) -- are based on the number of students in the schools and as such would be funded by the towns as part of the total region operating budget.
4. The proposal states the region maintains the schools, as is the current practice. The region also performs all the day-to-day maintenance as it does now. The towns do no maintenance.
5. The region will have a town fund to draw on when there are capital repair items that need to be paid for, such as roofs, boilers, air conditioning units and mechanical things. Each town fund will be used exclusively for that town's schools. That fund will be added to each year by depositing the payments into the fund and allowing the money to accumulate until it is needed. A committee with region and town representatives will decide what has to be done and when.
The Board of Education will vote on the recommendations of the committee (the region has full control).
The key concept is each town will have a fund for its school and only the region can spend money from that fund. Each fund will be dedicated to a specific town school.
This plan will not solve all problems, but it makes sure that money is there to fix a roof or a septic system or a well or the heating system when it needs to be done.
There should be no waiting for five years to fix a roof when the next 20-year renovation cycle comes around. No more deferring maintenance that costs more.
Roof leaks cause collateral damage. Things should get fixed on a timely basis. This should also reduce the frequency of asking for bonding to do these things and paying the bond interest on top of the repair costs.
The total annual fund payments proposed for elementary schools is $155,000 each year. This is less than eight-tenths of 1 percent of the budget.
How can anyone oppose allocating less than eight-tenths of 1 percent to keep the elementary schools in good repair?
The December 2007 referendum proposes a $1.55 million bond to maintain equipment and replace the track on the Shepaug campus.
On average this will cost $250,000 in bond servicing for the next seven years.
This fixed-cost represents 1.25 percent of the current budget and must be paid each year.
Ed Wainwright
Mardie Ford
Region 12 Board of
Education members
Bridgewater
Friday, December 7, 2007
Region 12 School Leases - Opinion by Specrum
Lease Renewals:
School lease committee needed shake-up
News-Times Staff
Article Last Updated: 12/06/2007 04:48:27 PM EST
Region 12 School Board Chairman Matthew Franjola showed strong leadership this week in readjusting the board's lease committee, which has the delicate task of finding agreement among Washington, Bridgewater and Roxbury.
Mr. Franjola reduced the size of the committee from seven to three members and in so doing removed two who have been at loggerheads -- Irene Allan and Ed Wainwright.
Ms. Allan has been intractable in her dealings with Bridgewater, the town Mr. Wainwright represents. Last month she sent a mass e-mail urging people, in essence, to annoy Bridgewater First Selectman Bill Stuart by encouraging an attorney who is suing that town about a non-education matter.
In the e-mail that she had asked recipients to pass along, she called Mr. Stuart a "bully."
Clearly she could not be effective in negotiating a lease with Mr. Stuart for the district's use of Burnham School in Bridgewater.
Mr. Wainwright is not as contentious as Ms. Allan, but he realistically acknowledged that it is for the better to remove both polarizing members.
The previous lease committee was "unworkable" with the seven members, Mr. Franjola said. Now whittled down to three, the committee can focus on the task at hand -- negotiating fair leases for the Region 12 district to use the elementary schools in the three towns.
The new lease committee has a member representing each of the three towns, plus Mr. Franjola and Superintendent of Schools Bruce Storm as ex-officio members.
Leases proposed by Bridgewater and Roxbury have been wildly apart from the district's expectation of $1 a year, so the first step is to find a compromise.
Time is critical here. A lease agreement is needed by the end of the month to enable the district to receive state reimbursement for renovations already completed at Burnham School.
Mr. Franjola became the district's school board chairman in July with a coin toss. He needed, therefore, to unify the board; his forceful handling of the lease issue indicates he is up to the challenge.
With the choice of whether to continue maintaining three separate elementary schools -- one in each town -- or construct a consolidated school likely going to referendum before June, strong, consensus-building leadership as exhibited by Mr. Franjola is required, and appreciated.
School lease committee needed shake-up
News-Times Staff
Article Last Updated: 12/06/2007 04:48:27 PM EST
Region 12 School Board Chairman Matthew Franjola showed strong leadership this week in readjusting the board's lease committee, which has the delicate task of finding agreement among Washington, Bridgewater and Roxbury.
Mr. Franjola reduced the size of the committee from seven to three members and in so doing removed two who have been at loggerheads -- Irene Allan and Ed Wainwright.
Ms. Allan has been intractable in her dealings with Bridgewater, the town Mr. Wainwright represents. Last month she sent a mass e-mail urging people, in essence, to annoy Bridgewater First Selectman Bill Stuart by encouraging an attorney who is suing that town about a non-education matter.
In the e-mail that she had asked recipients to pass along, she called Mr. Stuart a "bully."
Clearly she could not be effective in negotiating a lease with Mr. Stuart for the district's use of Burnham School in Bridgewater.
Mr. Wainwright is not as contentious as Ms. Allan, but he realistically acknowledged that it is for the better to remove both polarizing members.
The previous lease committee was "unworkable" with the seven members, Mr. Franjola said. Now whittled down to three, the committee can focus on the task at hand -- negotiating fair leases for the Region 12 district to use the elementary schools in the three towns.
The new lease committee has a member representing each of the three towns, plus Mr. Franjola and Superintendent of Schools Bruce Storm as ex-officio members.
Leases proposed by Bridgewater and Roxbury have been wildly apart from the district's expectation of $1 a year, so the first step is to find a compromise.
Time is critical here. A lease agreement is needed by the end of the month to enable the district to receive state reimbursement for renovations already completed at Burnham School.
Mr. Franjola became the district's school board chairman in July with a coin toss. He needed, therefore, to unify the board; his forceful handling of the lease issue indicates he is up to the challenge.
With the choice of whether to continue maintaining three separate elementary schools -- one in each town -- or construct a consolidated school likely going to referendum before June, strong, consensus-building leadership as exhibited by Mr. Franjola is required, and appreciated.
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