New elementary school vote moves to fall

SWAMPSCOTT – A Town Meeting and town-wide vote on a new elementary school will be postponed until the fall to give residents more time to consider the proposal and comment on it.A week after the public forum at which the School Building Committee announced the project would cost $52,644,414, the committee met Tuesday and settled on the date change. The town-wide vote was originally scheduled for June, pending a Town Meeting vote in May to approve the debt service override with a 2/3 majority.Committee Chairman Joe Crimmins said on Thursday that the group has been hearing from residents that there was not enough time to offer plan details before the town votes would take place.?As a committee, we decided instead of forcing something through ? we wanted as much time to present it and answer any questions,” he said.The committee is now shooting for a September Town Meeting vote, Crimmins said, and if Town Meeting gives its OK, the matter would go before voters in October.?We don?t have those dates nailed down, but that?s what the current thinking is,” he said.Crimmins said the former spring timeline was set up to align the school vote with May Town Meeting.?We undertook a very aggressive schedule with the (Massachusetts School Building Authority) initially,” he said. “It was certainly within the allowed for schedule under their procedures, but it was a very aggressive schedule in terms of getting all our approvals and getting all the various studies and votes completed.”The town is slated to receive $16,713,594 from the Massachusetts School Building Authority towards the project?s price tag. While final approval from the agency was originally scheduled to come this month, the committee has asked the MSBA to be taken off its March agenda and put on a summer agenda, Crimmins said. The reason behind it, he said, was that once final approval is given, there is a particular timeframe in which a town vote must take place.In the interim, Crimmins said, the committee will commission another traffic study by GEOD Consulting, in addition to information presented at last week?s public forum. According to an Item story, residents at the forum expressed concerns about parking and congestion on Forest Avenue, since the new elementary school would be built adjacent to the middle school.?One of the things we heard people wanted was more analysis than what had been done so far,” Crimmins said.He said the previous traffic evaluation was in line with what the MSBA requires, but the committee will work toward a study that is as comprehensive as possible.?I understand if you live in that area, or you drive in that area, or you?re dropping your kids off, you want to have some level of confidence that it?s manageable,” Crimmins said.The new elementary school would be a district-wide facility for 635 students in grades 1-4, replacing the current three schools. In addition, Clarke Elementary School would become an early childhood center for pre-K and kindergarten students.The committee, Crimmins said, will be holding at least three or four more public forums in advance of the fall votes, possibly supplemented by neighborhood coffee sessions or appearances at parent-teacher meetings.?We?re really going to be out there,” he said.