Marblehead wants answers on model schools

MARBLEHEAD – The Glover School Building Committee was seeking answers from the Massachusetts School Building Authority on its proposed use of a Model School design to replace the Glover and Eveleth elementary schools.On July 28, five weeks after Marblehead?s debt exclusion override defeat of a proposed $28.8 million Glover-Eveleth new school project, the MSBA approved its first Model School standard designs for elementary schools, with an offer of 39 percent reimbursement, about the same as the 40 percent reimbursement the town expected for its first plan.The new school, the first neighborhood elementary school the town has tried to build, will house 425 students in kindergarten-Grade 3 in a 70,000-square-foot building. The committee is taking another year for a further contingency study to see if their plans can be simplified and costs can be reduced.Committee members plan to bring a new school plan before Town Meeting and the voters next spring.Committee Chairman Patricia Blackmer said she and her committee are concerned that the MSBA has not presented final designs for its elementary Model Schools and the committee must present a design and cost to the town by the end of December.?We?re (asking if) the Model School plans might not meet our needs and might not be cost-saving,” Blackmer said.They also want to know what the town can expect in state aid for the new school plan if they abandon the Model School proposal.Meanwhile, architect Gregory Smolley told the committee Tuesday night that the six-acre Glover School property, site of the proposed new school project, contains 46,000 cubic yards of ledge that would cost $1.3 to $1.7 million to remove.However, he presented five different designs for a building on that site, calling for the removal of 10,000 to 16,500 cubic yards of ledge at most, at costs ranging from $300,000 to $660,000. Consultants estimate the removal cost at $30 to $40 per cubic yard.