School Committee Chair Retiring; Three Seats Now Up for Grabs

February 4, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Laurie Slap.

After serving two terms on the Belmont School Committee – including two years as its chair – Laurie Slap believes it’s a good moment to exit, stage left.

“I’ve had a fabulous six years on the committee and that’s the right amount of time,” said Slap, who announced Tuesday night, Feb. 2, after the Belmont School Committee meeting that she was “retiring” from the committee when her term expires in April.

Slap, who came to the board in 2010 after leading the effort to pass the debt exclusion for the Wellington Elementary, said one of her highlights from her tenure as chair was passing the $4.5 million Prop. 2 1/2 override in April 2015 that provided the school district with the necessary funds to meet the challenges of exploding district enrollment.

“[The committee] was so excited to make the case that the schools needed resources and the override passing with the margin it did was a big one,” the Long Avenue resident said.

The other high-water mark was updating the district’s statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority to renovate and add new construction to Belmont High School. Those efforts came to fruition last week when the MSBA selected Belmont to begin the process of modernizing the nearly 50-year-old school. Slap was in attendance with Superintendent John Phelan and Belmont High Principal Dan Richards when the announcement was made by the MSBA in Boston.

“That’s a nice way to wrap up my time here,” she said.

Slap noted that with her and member Laurie Graham’s departure late last year in addition to Elyse Shuster’s decision to give up her full-term seat to run to complete the one year remaining in Graham’s term, there are two three-year seats vacant on the committee to be filled in April and no incumbent running to retain a current position.

As of Thursday, Feb. 4, only one resident has taken out nomination papers for the two seats.

“[The School Committee] is a fabulous group and everyone who is associated with it, from the administration to the teachers, the students and parents,” said Slap.

“I highly recommend anyone who is looking to get involved with the town to consider running,” she said.

BREAKING: State Approves School District’s Plan to Renovate Belmont High School

January 27, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: The MSBA voting to invite Belmont to begin the process to renovate Belmont High School.

A decade of applications and waiting ended at 10:44 a.m. Wednesday morning, Jan. 27 in a crowded board room at 40 Broad St. in Boston as the Massachusetts State Building Authority voted to invite the Belmont School District to begin the process that Belmont officials anticipate will result in the complete renovation of Belmont High School and the construct of a new science wing at the Concord Avenue campus.

Massachusetts Treasurer Deb Goldberg, who heads the MSBA, made the announcement before nearly 100 school administrators and staff, politicians and local elected officials, including Belmont Superintendent John Phelan, Belmont High Principal Dan Richards and Belmont School Committee Chair Laurie Slap.

“This is great news for the town of Belmont,” said Slap after the vote.

See a video of the Belmont delegation responding to the vote: (from left: Superintendent John Phelan, School Committee Chair Laurie Slap and Belmont High Principal Dan Richards.

Belmont High was the only high school to be selected, joining seven elementary schools from Harvard, Lexington. Ludlow, Manchester Essex, Marlborough, Tisbury and Triton Regional districts to make the final cut.

A total of 26 building projects were vying for approval this year, including Arlington High School and the Maria Hastings Elementary School in Lexington.

With the MSBA vote, the clock begins running as the district enters a 270-day “eligibility period” in which the district is required to complete preliminary steps including forming a school building committee, hiring a building manager and conducting a feasibility study which establishes a process for the district to be reimbursed for eligible expenses. This is the first of eight “modules” the district and town will need to complete to receive the state grant.

(The process of creating a building committee is already underway as the special town meeting on Feb. 8 will include a vote to create a high school building committee.)

“During those 270 days, we’ll work all that information through and then meet with the community,” said Phelan.

For the Belmont delegation, the next few weeks will be educating themselves on what the state expects from the district.

“That’s what we going to find out in the next meeting, it’s the details,” said Richards.

The project price tag, based on an updated 2008 estimation, was calculated at $79.6 million. With eight years of inflation added to the 2008 figure, the total cost is now closer to $100 million.

With a third of the eligible costs reimbursed by the MSBA, Belmont taxpayers will be responsible for $66 to $70 million of the total cost.

“This [project] has been on everyone’s minds for years and years,” said Slap. “Everyone understands the need for a renovated school so our job is to make sure that we plan this as carefully and thoughtfully as we can. We are always very respectful of taxpayer’s dollars but this is a critical project that has to be done.”

“We are going to have lots of time to educate the community and lots of community involvement. Stay tuned, there is lots to come,” said Slap.

Under the 2008 revision of the 2004 Belmont High School master plan:

Construction at the school will take place in four phases over four years so students will remain on the existing campus,
All construction will be within the 257,000 sq.-ft. footprint of the current building, and
A 34,000 sq.-ft. Science wing will be built in the parking lot adjacent the Wenner Field House and the Higginbottom Pool.

The renovation of the five-decade-old school building is critical as it is currently “structurally unsound” and “jeopardize the health and safety of the school children,” according to Belmont’s 2014 SOI submitted to the MSBA.

The new science center will add 13.5 percent more classroom and lab space to the school, with the hope of “eliminat[ing] the existing severe overcrowding” at the school. The district is predicting an additional 254 students at the high school by fiscal 2024.

Modular Classrooms Heading to Chenery’s Tennis Court

January 11, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker 1 Comment

Photo: The Chenery Middle School tennis courts which will house six modular classrooms in August 2016.

After putting off a decision for the past two years, Belmont School District announced last week it will place six modular classrooms on the Chenery Middle School tennis courts for the start of the 2016-17 school year in August.

The classrooms – single-story temporary prefabricated structures most notably used last to house Wellington Elementary students as the new school was being built five years ago – are being brought to the middle school to alleviate the skyrocketing enrollment in the past five years that is taxing the building’s capacity, according to Belmont School Superintendent John Phelan and members of the Capital Budget Committee.

The decision to go with modulars is not a surprise as the district initially discussed adding temporary classrooms nearly three years ago when the Space Task Force established by former Superintendent Dr. Thomas Kingston concluded the Chenery “does not have enough space to support the current level of student enrollment” and won’t be able to fit the large classes funneling from the four elementary schools in the next five years.”

The solution “will result in the need for modular classrooms” by the beginning of the 2016-17 school year.

The six classrooms – equipt with their own bathrooms and powered with underground electrical wiring – each can hold up to 25 students, making a dent in the rapid increase in student enrollment in Belmont schools.

While the Chenery is the only school selected this coming school year, the school district will evaluate the enrollment numbers at the elementary schools with the possibility of purchasing more units for one or more of the district’s four elementary schools.

Phelan said the district has no timetable on how long the units will be used or if they will be moved from school to school when there is a need for more classrooms.

“[They’ll be] used as long as needed,” he said.

While Phelan said the district has yet to decide on the type or style of the “mods” to be placed at the Chenery “we are working with the same engineering firm that Winchester is using” during the construction of that district’s new High School.

On that project, Littleton-based firm Triumph Modular added eight classrooms as a new school was being built on the site of the current building.

Closer to home, Triumph was hired by Belmont Hill School in 2013 to provide six classrooms, an open testing area, five private offices, a conference room, and restrooms for staff and students for a year and a half during construction of a school building.

Modular units at Belmont Hill School 2013.

According to a “rough budget” from a modular study created by the school district, the estimated cost for lease the mods for three years comes to $1.12 million compared to the upfront cost of $1.23 million buying the units.

“The one benefit with buying [the modulars] is that there is a resale market for the newer units” as opposed to the type the district bought in the past, said Ann Marie Mahoney, Capital Budget chair.

While the school district has yet decided if they will lease or buy the units – “a cost analysis [is] underway” to determine the financially wise course, said Phelan – the likely purchase of the modular structures could result in the Capital Budget Committee using its entire $1.1 million budget acquiring the units.

“We can’t keep asking taxpayers to bond another million dollar expense,” said Mahoney.

“But then we can’t meet requests from the other departments this budget cycle,” she said.

“It will simplify our Town Meeting report,” Mahoney said wistfully.

The Big Wait: How Schools, Treasurer Prepare for State’s Decision on “New” High School

January 5, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont High School.

The decision by the state to place the $100 million renovation and new construction project for a “new’ Belmont High School was greeted with cheers by school officials while one town official has taken out his green eyeshade and sharpened his pencil to determine how the town’s property owners will pay for the project “without going bankrupt.”

“[This is] [g]reat news from the MSBA!” said Laurie Slap, chair of the Belmont School Committee, on the Dec. 22 announcement by the Massachusetts School Building Authority that Belmont’s statement of interest made the final review for state funding.

Belmont joins 25 other new construction, renovation and repair projects from around the state that the MSBA staff recommended forward in the process to the MSBA Board for approval.

Roughly half of the “finalists” will be selected later this month by the authority to advance to being funded by the state.

“This is great news for … Belmont as it represents a unique opportunity for our community as we have submitted an application for this project, annually, for over ten years,” said Belmont District Superintendent John Phelan.

“Although this is not a final decision, it is very good to know that our proposal is moving forward in the process,” he said.

“Like many other communities, we will now await the final decision of the MSBA Board that will be rendered on Jan. 27,” he said.

Until that decision is rendered, the School Committee “will have to wait patiently” on the sidelines, said Slap. But her group and the Superintendent’s office is “ready to start moving all forward as soon as we hear a positive decision from the Board!” she said.

If the project is approved, “the School Committee will work with … Phelan, Belmont High School Principal [Dan] Richards, the Board of Selectmen and the Belmont community to reexamine the needs at the high school and follow the MSBA process for feasibility and design studies, etc.,” said Slap.

Phelan noted that he had “notified faculty and staff as well as … parents and guardians. Additionally, I spoke with Town Administrator David Kale, who will communicate this information to the Board of Selectman and Town Department Heads.

“The MSBA process is one that is very prescriptive and as the process evolves we will use their guidance to prepare and educate ourselves as to the ensuing phases,” Phelan noted. Those will include working closely with MSBA officials on costs and needs of the district.

While the school committee and district are excited, the town’s chief financial manager has been going over the numbers on the cost of securing a new school.

“As Town Treasurer and a 45 year Belmont taxpayer I have thought through the financing as not to bankrupt individual family property taxpayers,” said Floyd Carman who has been in his position for more than a decade.

“I assumed the MSBA will cover 30 percent of the cost of a new Belmont High School. That leaves $70 million for Belmont taxpayers to pay for a debt exclusion vote,” he said.

Carman has come up with a preliminary plan that will spread out the project’s financing “pain” over a decade, recommending borrowing three times within a ten-year Capital Plan:

2019: $30 million.
2021: $20 million.
2023: $20 million.

While many residents have been focusing on the future of Belmont High School, Carman said that people “can’t forget Minuteman Technical High School, which looks like an agreement with member towns, is close to an agreement.” And that agreement, which includes a new building for the Lexington-based vocational center, will come at a cost to Belmont.

Under the current agreement that Town Meeting Members will vote on in early February, the “potential debt service cost for Belmont will be $400,000 to $500,000 annually for 30 years,” said Carman.

Support BHS Science Team at Somerville’s Flatbread Co. Tuesday, Jan. 5

January 4, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: The website of the Belmont Science team.

Belmont High Schools teams don’t just show prowess on the sports fields and music venues but also the lab.

Belmont High’s Science team is ranked second out of 19 schools in the West Suburban Science League. And this year’s squad has an excellent shot to qualifying for the Massachusetts State Science Olympiad.

But what the team needs right now is a little help getting there. A big problem is collecting money since each club at the high school receives a small amount each year from the school district. And most of the money goes to travel costs. If the team can’t afford to go to the competitions, the students can’t qualify for the state or national tournament.

While the sports teams have the Belmont Boosters and musicians are supported by Parents of Music Students, there is no related group for budding scientists.

On Tuesday, Jan. 5, residents and students can show their support for the Belmont High Science Team by eating pizza, do some candlepin bowling, and winning awesome raffle prizes!

Flatbread Company in Somerville will donate about 20 percent of their proceeds from pizza sales between 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Tuesday to the club. The team will also be selling baked goods and raffle tickets at the door, with prizes including $20-$50 gift cards and products from Starbucks, Comella’s, Bolocco, Ben and Jerry’s, the Harvard Co-op, Origins, Marcou Jewelers and more.

So join the team for a night of fun, food, and fundraising!

Being Green Assists Belmont With Energy Savings at High and Middle schools

December 30, 2015 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Chenery Middle School.

Most residents know a significant amount of educational energy is produced by teachers, staff, and students at Belmont High and Chenery Middle schools.

What citizens may not realize is that the schools are also the greatest user of conventional energy in Belmont, consuming 50 percent of all power used in town buildings.

Any opportunity to reduce or conserve power there could go a long way to reducing the town’s carbon footprint and save taxpayers money, according to Gerald Boyle, Belmont’s director of facilities.

Thanks to a “green” energy grant that accompanied being designated by the state as a Green Community, Belmont’s heaviest users of energy will soon be retrofitted and installed with energy control systems with the aim of containing costs at both facilities by using electricity more efficiently.

The $151,000 grant will pay for the bulk of the $174,000 price tag – after energy credits, the town’s contribution is $11,000 – to install the systems, said Boyle before the Belmont Board of Selectmen on Monday, Dec. 28, at Town Hall.

“We look at the best use of our money, and we view this as collecting from low-hanging fruit,” said Boyle.

The new computerized systems will allow for greater control of the schools’ environments – cooling and heating could be operated and scheduled from the Facilities Department’s office in the Homer Building. It can also produce reports and data highlighting how specific systems components such as pumps, fans, and motors, are working and if repairs are needed, said Boyle.

According to Boyle and David Kale, town administrator, the payback will be immediate. Boyle predicts annual savings of approximately $17,000 at each school with total repayment within four and a half years.

Selectman Mark Paolillo questioned if placing the system in the High School was worth the cost as the building could be renovated beginning in the next five years. (Editor’s note: Last week the Massachusetts School Building Authority selected Belmont High in the final review round before it decides on which projects it will fund in late January 2016.)

Boyle said the systems can be incorporated into a newly-renovated building “so it will not be ripped out” when the renovation takes place.

The grant was part of the package Belmont received after being named one of the state’s Green Communities last December, which encourages energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and promote the town’s clean energy goals.

Belmont will also be eligible to apply for future grants – up to $250,000 each year –to fund local renewable power and energy saving projects.

Belmont became eligible to become a “green community” after meeting five criteria including:

committing to renewable energy-friendly zoning,
expedited permitting,
programs to reduce energy use by 20 percent within five years,
the purchase of fuel-efficient municipal vehicles, and
Creating an energy efficiency requirement – known as the “stretch” code – for new commercial/industrial construction, as well as residential construction of more than 3,000 sq.-ft. The Belmont Town Meeting adopted this code in May 2011.

As part of the application process, an energy audit by Marlborough-based Guardian Energy of all town buildings to review the lighting, water use, and windows was completed to create an energy reduction plan. Town conducted a detailed analysis of municipal buildings and the costs associated with meeting the Green Communities goals.

Funded by a regional cap-and-trade program, more than $30 million have been paid out to cities and towns since 2010.

State Places $100 Million Belmont High Renovation in Final Funding Review

December 23, 2015 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont High School

Ten consecutive times the state agency created to assist Massachusetts communities in financing new school projects rejected the Belmont School District’s request to renovate the increasingly threadbare high school building on Concord Avenue.

That dubious streak may finally come to an end in 2016 as the Massachusetts School Building Authority selected the nearly $100 million renovation of the 45-year-old Belmont High School and the construction of a new science wing as one of 26 projects across the state the authority has chosen for a final funding review.

“This is great news for the town of Belmont as it represents a unique opportunity for our community as we have submitted an application for this project annually for over ten years,” said Belmont District Superintendent John Phelan.

This year, nearly 100 Statement of Interests from nearly the same number of school districts were submitted to the MSBA, Authority spokesperson Matt Donovan told the Belmontonian two weeks ago.

The Authority will make its decision on which projects it will approve for eventually financing at its monthly meeting on Jan. 27, 2016. Last year, the MSBA selected 16 projects from a group of 28.

If picked, Belmont will enter a 270-day “eligibility period” in which the district and town will shape the building plan to meet state requirements.

Joining Belmont in the final group include neighboring Arlington which is seeking to renovate its 101-year-old high school, and Framingham’s Fuller Middle School. (Arlington has been requesting funding for only two years)

While being passed over by the MSBA for a decade, it did not come as a complete surprise that Belmont’s “time” for a final review was close at hand. In October 2014, a team of architects and engineers associated with the School Building Authority conducted a “senior study” of the 45-year-old brick and concrete structure, asking a lot of questions of school and town officials while poking around the building.

Proposed projects that receive a “senior study” are seen as having a high level of being recommended to “move forward with an invitation” of being in the final group.

If current trends continue, Belmont should be reimbursed by the MSBA for approximately a third of the total construction costs.

The renovation price tag based on an updated 2008 estimation of the 2004 masterplan which would include using a single general contractor over four years was $79.6 million. With eight years of inflation added to the 2008 figure, the total cost is now close to $100 million.

With a third coming from the MSBA, the total cost to Belmont taxpayers is likely to be in the $66 to $70 million range.

A MSBA-financed project similar to Belmont is taking place in Winchester where a new high school that includes three new buildings is currently one-third finished. The $131.9 million project received 34 percent state reimbursement, requiring Winchester to pass a $90 million debt exclusion.

Under the 2004 Belmont High School master plan revised in 2008:

Construction at the school will take place in four phases over four years so students will remain on the existing campus,
All construction will be held within the current 257,000 sq.-ft. footprint of the current building, and
A 34,000 sq.ft. modern science wing will be built in the proximity of the parking lot adjacent the Wenner Field House and the Higginbottom Pool.

With the building of a science center, which will add 13.5 percent more classroom and lab space to the school, “it will eliminate the existing severe overcrowding” at the school. The district is also predicting an additional 254 students at the high school by fiscal 2024.

The SOI notes that Belmont High School is in danger of losing its regional accreditation due to the “negative impact on students … to achieve a 21st Century learning experience” in a building where critical infrastructure are now “beyond its normal life span.” This year, more than a million dollars was directed to rebuild the school’s fire alarm system which is so dated there is a lack of parts to repair the mechanism.

This year, more than a million dollars was directed to rebuild the school’s fire alarm system which is so dated there is a lack of parts to repair the mechanism. Without the change, the Belmont Fire Department warned the building could be closed for safety.

Graham Resigns from School Committee; Three Seats Up in April Town Election

December 21, 2015 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Laurie Graham at the Friends of Belmont Education Spelling Bee in Nov. 2015.

Long-time Belmont School Committee member Laurie Graham has resigned after serving nearly eight years on the board, three of those as chair leading the committee during some of the most financially challenging times in recent history.

Graham’s resignation, announced at last week’s school committee meeting, is effective Jan. 20, 2016.

“I hope that I have added in some measure to a more cordial and respectful working relationship with other committees but one that is not only less tense but which also produces positive results and outcomes for our students,” Graham told the Belmontonian.

Her departure will likely result in three seats being filled at the 2016 Town Election on Tuesday, April 5. While traditionally, the seat of someone who resigns is occupied by a nominee selected by a joint meeting of the School Committee and Board of Selectmen, with the resignation coming within four months of Town Election, it is likely the two bodies will allow the one-year position to be picked by the voters.

The other two seats are three-year appointments currently held by incumbents Laurie Slap, the current committee chair, and Elyse Shuster. Both have told the Belmontonian they would wait until the New Year before announcing if they will run for re-election.

Graham, who won three town-wide elections starting in 2008 while, topped the school committee ticket in 2014 with 3,640 votes.

For the past six years, Graham worked out of her home as a contractor with a group of independent publishers reps and that has given her the flexibility to attend day-time sub-committee meetings as well as participate as a school committee liaison or appointed to other committees in town for both day and evening meetings.

That changed when she started a new job, as an office manager in a tax office, in downtown Boston. It has become clear to me that with a commute, no real time to attend meetings back in Belmont as well as the busy time coming these next few months that it made sense for me to step down now and not wait until the upcoming April election.

“It has become clear to me that with a commute, no real time to attend meetings back in Belmont as well as the busy time coming these next few months that it made sense for me to step down now and not wait until the upcoming April election,” she said.

School Committee OK’s Land Survey for Possible Rink/Rec Center

December 2, 2015 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: The varsity softball field.

The promise of a new ice skating rink and multi-purpose recreation center serving Belmont’s residents and sports teams took a baby step forward as the Belmont School Committee voted unanimously on Tuesday, Dec. 1 to allow a survey of school-owned property near Belmont High School by the non-profit seeking to build the facility.

The decision gives permission for the Belmont Youth Hockey Association to hire a firm to perform evaluation work on school property currently occupied by the Belmont High Varsity Softball field to determine if the surface is suitable for the construction of a recreation center and ice surface.

“It’s a small step forward, but it is forward,” said Bob Mulroy, who has become the association’s point person for the project, that would include an NHL-sized skating rink, a second “half” skating surface that transforms into a field house for half the year, modern locker rooms, a community fitness center, and many more amenities.

According to Belmont School Superintendent John Phelan, the land survey will allow the association to return to the committee with a more detailed and concrete feasibility study.

The $6.5 million complex – which would include off-street, on-site parking – would be overseen by a non-profit public/private partnership that would incorporate a wide array of town departments, the school committee, youth hockey and funders on the board.

In exchange for the land to build the center, Belmont schools, and high school teams will have use of the facilities at no cost.

[PHOTOS] High School Prepares for Turkey Day at Pep Rally

November 30, 2015 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: All hail the pie-eating champion!

On Wednesday morning, Nov. 25, before the start of the four-day Thanksgiving Day recess, Belmont High School’s Wenner Field House became home to a “battle of the classes” as seniors, juniors, sophomores and lowly freshmen would decide which graduating year would dominate this year’s Pep Rally before the annual football tussle between Belmont and Watertown.

The morning proceeded with the March Band belting out its musical routine, fall athletic teams presented to the crowd, the cheerleaders flew into the air and a slew of fun events were contested including a pie-eating contest, tricycle races, tug-of-war (in which the junior class won by default) and musical chairs.