Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy made the right call last week in petitioning a judge to postpone the special election on the Lynn school issue.
The delay on the vote whether to fund the city’s share of two new middle schools gave the 2 New Schools for Lynn and the Protect Our Reservoir — Preserve Pine Grove supporters an extra week to state their case.
In our view, nothing has changed and we strongly urge a yes vote on both ballot questions.
A yes vote will cost taxpayers, on average, about $200 extra a year for 25 years. That’s less than 55 cents a day.
Why spend the money?
Simply put, the city can’t afford not to.
Start with the condition of the existing Pickering Middle School. It is sub-standard, to be kind. State Treasurer Deb Goldberg, who chairs the Massachusetts School Building Authority — which will reimburse almost $100 million — has called the Pickering building “an example of what we aren’t doing for kids.”
Then there is the space crunch. There are almost 3,100 students in the city’s middle schools. In three years, that number will increase by 20 percent, or about 600 students. Breed Middle School is over capacity by 300. Marshall Middle School — a shining example of what can happen when a community makes a capital investment in education — open for less than a year, is already over its listed capacity. Pickering is full.
Without a new Pickering and a new West Lynn Middle School there is a high likelihood that the middle schools will be forced to host two sessions per day. Do we really want that?
Some advocating for a no vote have floated the idea of renovating the existing Pickering. Possible? Yes. Practical? Absolutely not. The city would be responsible for 100 percent of repairs, which have been estimated at north of $40 million, and, even at that, the school would still not be able to offer the enrichment courses that have been so well received at Marshall, or a 21st-century library or science labs.
The city started the MSBA funding process in April 2014. If the proposal is approved tomorrow, the West Lynn middle school would be projected to open in 2019 and the new Pickering in 2020. Some advocating a no vote have floated the idea that if the proposal is shot down by voters, the city could somehow get right back in line with the MSBA. Not according to the MSBA.
According to the MSBA, “ … a failed local vote likely will result in the school district being required to submit a new Statement of Interest to the MSBA and await an invitation from the MSBA to enter the Eligibility Period phase of the MSBA’s process.”
In other words, the back of the line awaits.
The Parkland Avenue location has been met with opposition. That is understandable, yet it is somewhat troubling that the Protect-Preserve group’s arguments are high on emotion and low on facts.
The facts are these: The city owns the land — unlike several of the other 11 sites that were considered. The school will occupy only 12 of the 44 acres on the site. The city appears willing to give the remaining land to the cemetery commission should it want to expand Pine Grove.
There is only one proposal that has been endorsed by the MSBA, and that is the one voters must approve or reject tomorrow. There is no opportunity to vote “no, but …”
If you are pro-education and you understand the importance of providing students in West Lynn and the Pickering district the same opportunities that Marshall students now enjoy, you will vote yes.
We strongly urge you to do so.
