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Town Government & |
Committees: School Building Committee 2007 Annual Report The School Building Committee continued its work in the development of the ten year school master plan focusing on the completion of the design of a new 630 student elementary school to be located on the site of the former East School and the further development of proposed renovations and improvements to Plymouth River and Foster Elementary Schools. During 2007, the Committee and the school administration spent a considerable amount of time working with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), the state agency created by the Legislature in 2004 to oversee a revamped state funding program. “Statements of Interest”, the initial step in the state grant process, were submitted to the MSBA in 2006 for four of Hingham’s schools. The problems associated with overcrowding were identified at Plymouth River, Foster, South Schools and Hingham Middle School. In addition, problems associated with age and obsolescence were identified in the statements of interest for Plymouth River, Foster and Hingham Middle School. The new state program began its review of 423 statements of interest from 162 school districts in July 2007. In August, the MSBA requested every community who had submitted statements of interest to identify its highest priority school building project. The Building Committee and School Committee agreed that Hingham’s most pressing need was to address the problem of overcrowding at the pre-k to grade 8 levels. The MSBA was notified that construction of a new elementary school was Hingham’s highest priority. After a number of visits to Hingham by MSBA staff and its team of consulting school planners and engineers during the spring, summer and fall of 2007, the MSBA staff concluded that Hingham’s need for a new school was warranted and Hingham’s project was among the first to go before the new MSBA Board for approval to advance to a “project scope and budget review” in late November. Only six other school projects were ranked in this category. With this good news and the continued goal of opening the new school in September 2009, the Building Committee immediately embarked on the lengthy procurement process for the construction of the new school. The budget for the new school was established at $ 26,565,00 with state reimbursement expected at or above 40%. The Committee also worked closely with the School Committee, Board of Selectmen and Advisory Committee to schedule a Special Town Meeting and a debt exclusion ballot vote in early 2008 to seek local approval for the first phase of the ten year school facility master plan. The School Building Committee is pleased that the new elementary school and the renovations and improvements to Plymouth River School and Foster School are on track for completion in September 2009. The Committee looks forward to overseeing these projects and to developing a permanent solution for the problem of overcrowding and age at the Hingham Middle School. Alan Macdonald, Chair
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