Marblehead school building board to propose new plan

MARBLEHEAD – The Glover School Building Committee will come back to the town with a proposal for a new elementary school in the next 12 months – possibly this fall.Committee member Robert Schaeffner got the School Committee’s permission Thursday night to send a letter explaining the defeat of the new $28.8 million Glover-Eveleth School last Tuesday – and presenting a plan to remedy the situation, with a timeline.The proposal garnered 2,953 “No” votes and 2,882 “Yes” votes – a 71-vote loss. It won in Precincts 4, 5 and 6 – the Glover-Eveleth school district – but lost elsewhere. A simple majority vote was needed for passage.At stake now is the 40 percent aid that the Massachusetts School Building Authority has offered the town for the school, $11.18 million – the town was grandfathered in for that amount.Schaeffner said his committee met Wednesday night and wants “to keep Marblehead in the (aid) pipeline.” To do that, the committee must send a letter to the MSBA by Thursday, within 10 days of the override.”If we don’t get the letter in, we’re out of the queue,” he said. “There will be 200 projects ahead of us and we can’t assume the state will still have money when we get back to the front.”Schaeffner listed many reasons why the school was defeated: too many override questions on the ballot (10 questions), a number of supporters who didn’t vote Tuesday, less than full support from parents in other elementary school districts and skepticism about the promised state aide.He proposed asking selectmen to schedule a special Town Meeting in October, followed by another special election.”We have to convince people this is a responsible plan and educate people about what a do-nothing plan means,” he said.The School Committee unanimously supported the letter and the plan.School Committee member Dick Nohelty pointed out that a change in 36 votes would have meant victory for the school. “We need to find out why people voted ‘no’, and if ‘not now’ when, and why then is better than now,” he said.