Swampscott still hopes to address aging schools

SWAMPSCOTT – Despite the fact that voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed district-wide elementary school Tuesday, representatives of both sides of the debate agreed the vote does not change the reality that the town needs to address its aging elementary schools.”The vote was very clear, and that’s the way the system works,” said Joe Crimmins, chairman of the School Building Committee. “I, for one, wish the town luck in continuing to look at this problem and hope that the town will be invited back into the Massachusetts School Building Authority program as soon as possible.”The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) in late July gave final approval to a proposal for a new district-wide elementary school in Swampscott. The plans included building a new school for grades 1-4 on land adjacent to the middle school. Clarke School would be converted to house pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. The proposed project also included demolishing Stanley School and converting the land to athletic fields and playgrounds. The proposed project cost $52.6 million, of which the town would have paid approximately $35 million.The proposal had to pass two votes: a Town Meeting vote where the question needed to be approved by a two-thirds majority; and a town-wide ballot vote where the question needed to be approved by a simple majority.Town Meeting voted 140-98 on Oct. 6 in favor of the article, but the measure needed 159 votes for a two-thirds majority.But proponents of the project hoped the ballot question would pass and the proposal could be resubmitted to Town Meeting.Voters rejected the measure 4,483 to 1,893, according to Town Clerk Sue Duplin.”I am pleased that a majority of voters agreed that the proposed project for a new consolidated elementary school abutting the current middle school was not the right project for Swampscott,” Scott Burke, an opponent of the project, wrote in an email. “But, it is not a successful end to the problem, so I am not celebrating. We still need to solve our current elementary school facilities problem and I hope that the ?Yes’ and ?No’ groups will come together to make that happen.”Crimmins said the vote effectively ended his committee’s charge after they send a letter to the MSBA. This letter must report the outcome of the vote, explain the district’s reasoning as to why the project failed, and present the district’s plan to remedy the failed vote, according to MSBA guidelines.MSBA spokesman Dan Collins said the town had already submitted such a letter following the Oct. 6 Town Meeting.The letter from Superintendent Pamela Angelakis explained the failed vote by saying that “those speaking against the project cited concerns with moving to one large school and the site location.” The letter proposed the Nov. 4 vote as the next step for the town.Collins echoed Crimmins and said the next step for the building committee would be to submit a second letter in accordance with the MSBA guidelines.Angelakis could not be reached Wednesday to say if the building committee would propose a next step in the letter. But, Collins wrote that “Under the policy, a failed local vote likely will result in the school district being required to submit a new Statement of Interest for the proposed project and await a new invitation into the Eligibility Period phase of our capital pipeline.”The school district submitted its statement of interest in January 2011 for the proposal voters rejected Tuesday.Crimmins said he didn’t think a new proposal from Swampscott could bypass any part of the MSBA process. But he said he didn’t know if a new proposal would take a similar amount of time and expense. The town has already spent approximately $500,000 for a feasibility study for the proposed school. Opponents of the proposal said a new effort would not take as long to develop as the proposal voters rejected.”I would think that the amount of work that was done was comprehensive enough, that we wouldn’t have to start at point zero ?