Saugus board not ready to move on Evans School

SAUGUS – Despite a 5-0 vote to take no action on the Evans School, the School Committee wrestled over whether or not the building’s lease should be sent out for bid or if it should be released back to the town.At Thursday’s meeting, Vice Chairman Jeanette Meredith pointed out that although Evans may never re-open as a public school, that should not warrant decommissioning it altogether, as was the case with the Cliftondale School. She added that Evans has housed the Shining Stars Learning Center for the past nine years without incident.Meredith attempted to make a motion to keep the building open as Shining Stars Preschool, however, it was not supported by Chairman Wendy Reed.”I would like to see it as is, as a preschool,” said Meredith. “It’s functioning fine.”But member Arthur Grabowski questioned the feasibility of keeping Evans.”Are we getting the best value for the lease of that building?” he asked.Reed concurred.”Do we need it?” she asked.Reed said that she had asked Town Manager Scott Crabtree to send the lease out for bid, however, her request was never acted upon.Grabowski pointed out that, according to Town Council, the committee has the authority to independently send the lease out for bid.”We are the ones who set the lease for that building,” he said.In other news, Grabowski pointed out that the committee presently has $25,000 in obligations.”Are we actively going after all of these obligations?” he asked.”We always do,” said Pola Andrews, executive director of finance and operations.Grabowski also mentioned that there is $306,000 in fiscal year 2014 “encumbrances that the School Committee never approved.”In contrast, Andrews explained that the actual balance is $167,000.But Grabowski remained unsatisfied.”We’re not replacing what we cut, we’re adding things in,” he said, reviewing the list of line items. “These purchases don’t have to be made.”