Open forum on tap concerning Marblehead’s Glover School

MARBLEHEAD – Concerned about the new Glover School’s defeat in the June debt exclusion override election, the School Committee and the Glover School Committee want to hear people’s questions at their first open forum Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Glover School gym.In fact, they will also accept written questions – and they planned to reach out to PTO members and last spring’s opponents over the weekend.In fact, committee member Dick Nohelty, a member of both committees, made that point several times during a special School Committee meeting Friday morning.Nohelty asked that the project designers, JCJ Architects, keep their presentation to 10 minutes or less – and he questioned the Glover Committee’s plan to distribute a sheet of frequently asked project questions and answers at the meeting.”I’m not comfortable with us (thinking we know) what people think,” he said. “We should ask concerns and draw out people’s negatives. We want to know their questions before we offer them answers.”Committee member Jonathan Lederman pointed out that while the former $28.8 million school proposal only lost by 71 votes town-wide, the margin in some precincts was 2-1 against. “(A new school) is a difficult sell in this economy,” he said. “It comes down to whether people think they can afford it.”The proposed school is estimated at $25.9 million and since the town has already spent $450,000 on design the actual appropriation will be $25.45 million. Subtracting 40 percent reimbursement from the Massachusetts School Building Authority the actual cost to Marblehead is estimated at $15.25 million.Lederman also pointed out that the committees are placing their new proposal before two groups: school parents, who want the school to be an attractive, warm place and taxpayers, who want the School Committee to tell them why they should spend the money.”There’s also the cost of a building failure and moving kids. Those costs are real too,” said committee member Patricia Blackmer, who chairs the Glover School Committee.