Middle School Study to Proceed

Weston Today photo

On December 15 the Board of Education voted to proceed with the second phase of an engineering study to compare the costs and educational impact of renovating Weston Middle School versus building an entirely new one.

A preliminary report submitted in June indicated that, at least from a cost perspective, the decision looks like a toss-up. But some numbers are old and may be iffy.

A report on the second, more in-depth analysis, is expected in early to mid-February. The board aims to apply for state construction reimbursements by the end of June and ask the selectmen to schedule a November bonding referendum.

The board voted unanimously to authorize the report despite hesitation by some members about its $40,000 cost considering that some questions remain on the table.

Scott Pellman of Colliers Project Leaders told the board that previous studies going back as far as 2017 were “never an adequate comparison of renovation status and how that would compare to a new building.” He added that costs escalate annually at a rate of 4½ percent.

The Phase 2 report is expected to update renovation costs, provide more detail, and include a conceptual design for a new school and financial estimates.

The study appears to be necessary regardless of which way a decision eventually goes. To be eligible for renovation reimbursements, a detailed building analysis must be signed and sealed by certified engineers.

The same analysis would be needed to prove that building new would cost less than renovating, a key ingredient to possibly qualifying for an above-standard reimbursement rate.

Questions

The Phase 2 report will not address other topics some board members would like to discuss, but apparently could be added to the conversation later.

One is the question of whether one or two intermediate grade levels could be shifted to the middle school, likely a revisit of the previous board’s vote to retain the current configuration and a four-school campus.

Another is the idea to explore whether WMS could be converted, renovated or new, into a regional magnet school, thus qualifying for up to 80 percent State reimbursement.

Magnet schools typically specialize on particular subject areas such as science or the arts. They are designed to attract out-of-district students from diverse social, economic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. Those students must constitute at least 25 percent of enrollment.

This would mean an enrollment addition of 182 students, all from other districts, to Weston Middle School’s projected eight-year peak of 547. Depending on several factors, a portion of ongoing educational costs could be covered by tuition paid by referring districts, but at a rate capped by the State.