'Hole' funds school
Published on January 14th, 2004
STONEHAM, MA - The Stoneham School Department will utilize a $200,000 pothole grant from the Department of Education to pay for a $67,000 overrun in repairs to the high school and middle schools.
One of 47 communities chosen to receive this year's Foundation Reserve Grant Awards or Pothole Grants, Stoneham was one of 19 communities that received the maximum allocation of $200,000.
According to Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly, with $622,000 in funds for repairs to the high school and middle school's roof, fire doors, and windows all but spent, the money couldn't have come at a better time.
"The timing couldn't have been better. It allows us to respond to Gene's order within a reasonable time period and still stay within budget," Connelly remarked.
Last spring, Building Inspector Gene Argiro found several violations within the high school and middle school during a routine inspection.
Finding faulty fire doors that didn't properly shut, a leaky middle school roof that flooded the girls locker room, and missing ceiling tiles, Argiro ordered that the violations be addressed before October 15.
At last October's Town Meeting, citizens voted to borrow $622,000 for the repairs. Although at the time Connelly and school officials suggested that some of that money might be refunded to the town, a number of unanticipated problems pushed the repairs into the red, says Connelly.
School officials accepted a low bid of $189,000 for repair of the middle school roof, but $5000 in additional costs pushed that particular phase of the project over budget.
"The middle school roof is complete now. It cost us an additional $2500 for a performance bond and another $2500 to remove all the snow from the roof. So that extra $5000 dollars brought the total cost to $194,000," Connelly said.
Yet another aspect of the repairs pushed over budget, school officials planned on paying approximately $63,000 for replacement of plexiglass windows.
However, after finding asbestos putty in some of the windows, the cost for the repairs swelled to almost $93,000.
"The final bid came in at $78,000 and it's going to cost us an additional $15,000 to hire an asbestos specialist. That's for the actual removal, testing, and monitoring of the asbestos," explained Connelly, who added that the hazardous material would not be removed during school hours.
Perhaps the largest overrun, school officials were forced to both hire a design firm and to replace the frames of the two schools' fire doors due to state mandated requirements concerning fire door widths and construction at schools over $100,000.
"We estimated $354,000 for the replacement of the doors at the high school and middle school. In reality, that bid came in at $362,000. By law we also had to hire a design firm at $40,000," said Connelly, detailing a $402,000 price tag for the doors.
According to the superintendent, the school department will look into purchasing automatic fire doors for the two schools with the remaining money left from the grant.
Connelly also plans to hand over any remaining funds left after all the repairs are completed to the town to refund the $622,000 warrant article.
The awarding of the grant marks the third time Stoneham has received a Foundation Reserve Award.
In the past, the school department used the funds to replace an antiquated 20 passenger student mini-bus and to replace bleachers in the gymnasium.
Receiving the grant because of Chapter 70 aid reductions, the Pothole Grant can also be awarded for extraordinary increases in required local contributions and extraordinary enrollment increases.
According to Connelly, the school system could have never received the grant without the help of State Senator Richard Tisei, and State Representatives Paul Casey and Carol Donovan.
"Our State Representatives Paul Casey and Carol Donovan and our State Senator Richard Tisei were very strong supporters of Stoneham receiving this badly needed pothole funding and I'd like to thank them for their contributions," Connelly remarked.
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