Fate of East Colonial Park schools uncertain
Published on February 14th, 2001
STONHAM, MA - While town officials and the School Department struggle with putting together a workable budget for next year, parents and other residents continue to wonder how it all will affect them.
At one end of town, residents fear that after successfully ousting a growing business in their residential neighborhood, the School Department might bring another one in to generate needed revenue. In another area, parents worry about a rumor that has their neighborhood school shutting down. And all around town, taxpayers stress over the possibility of being told that their already high property tax bills might not be high enough.
All of these issues have arisen at recent School Committee meetings. Last Thursday, committee members reiterated their mission — to protect the classroom.
In increasingly tight economic times, that mission becomes more and more difficult to attain and the costs to do such can be very high.
Residents were on hand last week to hear the School Committee's plans for the East School, a building nestled among homes on Beacon Street. Until recently, that school was leased to the Visiting Nurse Association. But due to that organization's constant growth and high volume of traffic, along with increasing pressure from the neighborhood, the School Committee did not renew the lease and now the former school stands vacant.
"This board has made no decision and will not make any decision on that property until we have a public hearing," School Committee Chair-woman Jeanne Craigie said. She added, however, that the Committee has directed Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly to look into the cost of fixing up the building for any use.
Connelly recently toured the facility with Building Inspector Gene Argiro, and their findings yielded a cost estimate of about $8,000 to bring that building up to the standard code that would be required for a school operation.
Beacon Street resident Matt Bialock cautioned the committee against bringing in a tenant similar to the one that just left.
Bialock said, "We don't want another business," but added, "Schools are cool."
Based on its experience in renting out the North School on Collincote Street (to the SEEM Collaborative, a private educational program), the School Committee estimated that it might be able to fetch between $90,000 - $100,000 for a similar tenant at East School.
"We were very sensitive last year about identifying a school program going to North School...We've not received one complaint from the North School neighborhood about that school operation," Connelly said.
The North School lease to the SEEM Collaborative includes restrictions such as number of nightly meetings allowed and number of hours of daily operation allowed.
If a decision to rent out East School were made, Connelly added, "we would be just as careful and just as sensitive to your concerns."
Regarding Colonial Park School concerns, Avalon Street resident Bill DeNapoli submitted a signed petition in favor of keeping that school open.
"None of us want to close Colonial Park,” Craigie said. “We fought very hard (for) four elementary neighborhood schools, to get this town...to come together to support a $40 million building project."
Again, she stated that no decision has been made regarding the school and that an appeal to the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Board for support of the school budget would be made.
"We will do everything in our power to remain at a level of service with buildings that we have," Craigie said.
The Colonial Park School renovation was originally slated to be the fourth in the town's elementary school rebuilding project. Now, with the building project running over-budget, due to unanticipated costs of removing contamination from the Central School site as well as higher construction costs stemming from the Big Dig, it is unclear where the money will come from to complete the project.
One possibility for funding the shortage that has been put on the table recently is a debt exclusion or an override. The $40 million building project was originally passed by Stoneham residents who accepted 37 percent of the burden to build new schools, with the state funding 63 percent.
If people knew then that that amount of money would not be enough, DeNapoli suggested, chances are the building project would not have passed. Going back to the town for even more money for the same project, he added, would be "a hard sell."
Despite the rumors and possibilities, the School Committee is pursuing a search for a new principal at the Colonial Park School.
Thirty-eight applicants have expressed their interest in the position and the School Committee plans on beginning the interview process on Feb. 26.
"To have 38 applicants speaks well of Stoneham...Stoneham must have an excellent reputation to generate that number," Connelly said.
In response to one resident's concern about the fairness of hiring a principal for a school that has potential to close, Connelly advised that two other principal positions are expected to open up over the next couple of years with recent announcements of impending retirements and, if needed, a transfer would be possible for the Colonial Park head.
"We did wrestle with that. We want to be fair," said Connelly, but he added that the School Department's hope is that the Colonial Park project will continue.
In other news:
Stoneham, Reading and Wakefield have developed a pilot Drop-out Prevention Program that will begin on Feb. 26 at Wakefield High School.
The School Committee approved the action that will cost the town $5,000. The money comes out of available funds in the current year's budget.
The program is designed to target high risk juniors and seniors who might not continue their schooling to graduation. The program allows for a maximum three students from each town to participate in the five-day-a-week program. Students must be engaged in an approved employment program during the day and must attend class from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
"This is one more way of keeping these kids actively involved in the high school program," Connelly said.
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