30 March, 2013
On Thursday, March 28, the Elementary School Building Committee (ESBC) voted unanimously to forward two Statements of Interest (SOI) to the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee with a recommendation for approval as they begin the process of moving forward with their objective "to facilitate the development of a proposed solution to the operational and educational constraints of Center School that will be supported by the voters of Hopkinton as well as the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA)."
The submittal of an SOI to the MSBA is a notification that Hopkinton is actively seeking state funds for a school project. As such, the SOI simply states the conditions of an existing school building and outlines the problems that exist. For Center School, the problems are not new.
"None of the issues are new issues," said ESBC Vice Chair Mike Shepard. "The issues that Center School has today are pretty much the same ones as the last time an SOI was submitted."
A new SOI is required to put Hopkinton back into the funding queue. While the MSBA allows only one priority Statement of Interest from a community, and in Hopkinton's case the priority is Center School, a second SOI for Elmwood School is also being recommended in order to provide the ESBC with as many options as possible as they seek a solution for Center School.
"If there is some potential to put an expansion on the Elmwood School which may help us with the Center School, at least we'll have our foot in the door," said Shepard. "If we don't put it in, they won't consider it."
The second SOI would only be used if the ESBC ultimately determines, after deliberations over the coming months, that a solution to Center School could involve sharing of building resources at Elmwood School.
The Statements of Interest require approval by both the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee which voted its approval on March 28. The Board of Selectmen will consider approving the Statements of Interest for the Elmwood School and Center School for submission to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) at their April 2, 2013 meeting. If approved, the SOIs will be finalized and submitted to the MSBA by the Apri 10, 2013 deadline.
To watch the HCAM News interview with ESBC Chair Joe Markey and Vice Chair Mike Shepard, Click Here.
