welcome to belmont schools now my name is john fail and on the superintendent of the belmore public schools it looks like to have you watching today we have two parts to our show this afternoon the first will be a presentation that we have been showing at school committee  meetings into all staff at all six schools regarding space and i building program for the new high school the second part of our program will be an interview a conversation with bill a bhalo the chair of the belmont high school building committee let's start with a presentation about space class size in the building program as you know we have a recognition of high and high class size and space issues that have been dominating the news in the community of belmont we want to provide you some historical information in some enrollment forecast to described in roma concerns in class size concerns we have as we look back we can see that in october of two thousand and ten we had thirty eight hundred seventy seven students in the belmont public schools we have grown over time to october of two thousand and sixteen where we now have forty four hundred eight students as of october of this present school year in the belmont public schools we are projected to be over forty seven hundred students by october of two thousand and nineteen the next slide shows you how in table form this in roman has grown by over one hundred students per year and is forecasted to continue on pace for some time this slide is a is a depiction of how our class size at the elementary level is impacted by the hieromonk that we see on the slide you can see on the left hand column the grade level in the grade level guidelines for class sizes that the school committee puts in place through their policy at the kindergarden level the hope and expectation is that we have between eighteen and twenty two students per class you can see from the chart this presented to you that only one of the classes of all the fifteen that we have are within that range fourteen of which fourteen of which are over that range that creates ninety three percent of our kindergarten classes are beyond the class size expectations that the school committee has for the belmont public schools as you go down this chart you can see that all the numbers that are reflected in red demonstrate classes in our district that are beyond the class size expectations of the school committee resulted in over forty two percent of our elementary classes today are be on the class size expectations and guidelines our school committee over the past few years we have seen in rome an increase by one hundred students per year our elementary classes in particular have been increasing each year in response to that i just checked has grown by over fifteen additional classroom spaces over these last two years size at an appropriate level as we look at our elementary class sizes class sizes at the middle and high school we will look forward to some of the forecasting that we did mckibben associates is a demographic group that does this work for a living and we provided a contract with them to give us information regarding our in roman forecasts as you can see on the screen the two thousand and sixteen seventeen school year we currently have three hundred fifty students in kindergarten three twenty nine in first grade three hundred ninety one in our current second grade three sixty five in third grade three fifty in fourth grade in currently three hundred forty eight at the fifth grade as you can see as the gr move on and the years move on that each year are roman increases in each grade the classes that are highlighted in yellow show all in roman that is above three hundred eighty this is a very significant number as it reflects the breaking point where our class sizes given how many teachers we have and school will go beyond twenty five our goal again is tried to maintain our class sizes daily that are in the expectations that our school committee has for us in their guidelines we are in need today for extra teachers in each grade of our elementary school system and as you look at the graph as we go into the eight hundred nine hundred school year the hundred twenty school year we have some cohorts in some grades that will go over four hundred in the belmont public schools as we look at our middle school data in the forecast for for that level of our district we can see are in roman presently in october of two thousand and sixteen was thirteen hundred fifty nine students we see that roman in the aggregate increase all the way to fifteen hundred in forty six students in two thousand twenty four twenty five this table is represented below the line graph as you know would six additional classrooms that we put into the middle school the middle school continues to be the most significant problem we have in the district as it relates to available space to accommodate the current and roman as we see it today at the high school you will see similar roman trends currently we have twelve hundred sixty four students at belmont school and as we go through time that ends at fifteen hundred twenty eight students in the year two thousand and twenty three twenty four the line graph below is a striking depiction of that data as well we are as most of you are concerned about the enrollment increase we are glad to have this data to justify the numbers that we see daily and the numbers that we've seen grow over the last five years the question becomes what is the district going to do about it and what is our plan moving forward one of the plans moving forward thankfully was to be accepted into the massachusetts school building authority process for building a new high school in the fall of two thousand and fifteen we applied for the a grant and was accepted into that program in january of two thousand and sixteen to be able to build a new high school we talked about several options that we might be able to explode the m s b a and we have started that program accordingly as you can see from the the chart in front of you the eligibility period is the first period or module that we work with the be on and that is an information gathering period that has been completed and all documents have been submitted the present stage we're in right now is where we form a team with an owner project manager and a design architect and that work is ongoing we currently have signed a contract with the owner project manager and we hope to hire design architect by july of next of the school year as you can see that will bring us in june of two thousand and seventeen with the feasibility study taking place these steps are the ones that we will take along with our building committee and the m s p a to build a new high school that not only will be good for his school students but may also solve some of our in roman problems at the middle school and elementary school levels the options that we explored with the m s p a include one that could be a building that could house nine through twelve grades eight through twelve or great seven through twelve each of these options solves part or all of our issues as they relate to in rome and in the district the space task force all along with the building high school building committee belmont high school building committee are working out these flexible options are only for the high school but to see if the any of these options can solve our concerns within roman as a district the chart that you have before you now demonstrates on the left hand side what the three configurations would look like that the s b a the massachusetts school building authority and the belmont high school building committee are considering nine through twelve through twelve and seven through twelve versions then show you what other issues they could remedy if we were able to do each option let me show you if we built a nine through twelve school and replace the high school as a currently sets we would not take care of any of the elementary concerns we just talked about nor would we be able to take care of any of the middle school challenges that we spoke about if we do have an eight through twelve solution we would not be able to remedy any of our elementary school programming options but we would be able to remedy our high school our middle school issues by going five to seven at the middle school if we do come up with an option that makes sense educationally in a lot of ways the seven through twelve option is chosen that would remedy our elementary school issues and our middle school issues by having a district that would be future would be constructed in the future as a k to three schools at the elementary level four to six at the general level and seven through twelve at the high school there are a lot of discussions about what each one of those options means and we want to make sure that our public pays attention to all the belmont high school building committee discussions we have on this topic in the future and we are having them right now an example would be if i was a parent would i ask myself what i want my seventh grader in a school with twelfth graders how can you have seventh graders and twelve graders in one building what would that look like and what i've been saying to parents and to staff as we've been walking this presentation through the community that if we did have a school that big it would be one building but it would most likely be two separate schools functioning within one large building we would most likely have careful separations of how our own roman works for seven eight or possibly just seven eight nine and that they could operate within one building and one programming under one administration and a high school students could operate under another and as our goal to be able to outline these expectations these careful separations that we want our parents to know about and also highlight the exciting connections that we can have if we do have a building that houses five creates that our programming in x access to different types of clas options would be accessible to all students grade seven to twelve this is a conversation that we're going to have with our community over the next few months and we hope that everyone in the community comes out to those meetings and participates to facilitate that work we have hired an educational facilitator this person has already met with our teachers and education staff on three occasions twice in january and once in april we will be inviting the public to participate in two full day sessions on may and on may fifth so we can get the communities lens on this work as well as invite students to this meeting as well our students and our community and our parents and our staff will be included in their voice will be in education facilitation work as we look to inform the m s p a in the belmont high school building committee as to what we think our school should look like as a relates to teaching and learning and also how it can be physically laid out to support that teaching and learning in the end the big question becomes who gets to decide which one of these options is the choice there are many folks that will be providing input in guidance and making decisions on the belmont high school building committee on the belmont high school project it is the board of selectmen the belmont high school building committee and the school committee those three boards will be the ones to discuss and talk and represent belmont on which one of these configuration options is chosen ultimately this has to be put in front of the massachusetts school building authority for approval we will be looking to the school committee to make sure that they are working with the school administration the staff the community the parents and the students to make sure that we know what kind of educational program we want we want to make sure that meets with approval of the beaumont high school building committee and the board of selectmen and we also want to make sure that the belmont high school building committee is ok with the type of building that they're going to present to the p we look forward to more conversations about this work and we want to go into the second half of our meeting where we chair of the belmont high school building committee  on a few building committees and so if i understand how some of the belmont process works but this is a unique project for belmont quite a large one and we've been meeting for over a year as a committee that's  and the committee was formed as you said let's go back to february of two thousand and sixteen when massachusetts school building authority said finally to belmont we're going to choose your school to move ahead with an agreement and see if we could solve belmont high school problems this statement of interest was submitted ten ten years and edited through the ten years as the school issues presented themselves to describe to the state what what the issues are in the high school not simply just overcrowding but antiquated systems and teaching of the syllabus that don't meet the current standards i know when you came along you edited that program and and finally the state chose that to move ahead in the program their program is a process that takes has to go through these modules that they describe and the first one you mentioned was the eligibility period so we started in february two thousand and sixteen and immediately a town meeting approved the moderator to establish a building committee and that was done in february and since then the building committee has been meeting tell me bill who's on not by name but what kind of folks are on the building committee how many people from the community what kind of roles they play in our community in their professional lives that makes them an asset to the belmont high school building committee state again our partner in this because the state will provide funding through the treasurer's office for this project is has a set of guidelines that we must follow to establish a committee and those guidelines tell us that they want to see the superintendent yourself on the committee they want to see a member of the school committee member of the governing body in our case that would be a bore selectman member of the town adminis office we have the principal of the school we have people that represent the financial side of the town committee we have also people that are experienced in construction design architects engineers and finally schoolteachers and we have that entire wealth breadth of experience and our committee of fifteen people so we won that that the meeting for a long time that you were the chair of the wellington building committee at the end of that work that's about ten years to complete not the school but the actual wellington building that in that for was ten years so we warned these groups of folks that this committee even though the working but it's been about ten years and so it's a process and the state doesn't say that when they start out but if you go through their process you can see where it'll take it's here we are a into the next module which is forming the team and as you said we have our owners project manager so much it was enormous project manager do well the owners project manager really helps and provides the breath of resources that the town doesn't have a so we have a talented team but we have season with the m s b a knowing how they work and they're our liaison with the state and then also with the design team to make sure that we're following the path that we're supposed to follow so we talk about the state use the accurate and s b a which is nasa ch government agency that that provides resources for cities and towns in the throughout the commonwealth to facilitate their their educational needs through their capital improvements so it's not just new buildings or renovated buildings that could be roof replacement boiler projects that sort of thing so they have a whole another division that does the smaller work they have a much bigger division that does work throughout all the districts in massachusetts and that's a lot of their procedures  are by the way some of those are regional districts have some other regional school districts so they write their requirements so that it covers all of not just belmont or the east part of massachusetts so basically year by year of what we could we're kind of projects that could take on and move through the process to make sure we're following the rules that they established so you would i've been to their office several times already have a catering for belmont in the project we have met with realized that just building a new high school might not be enough that would be great for the town to be able to have a new high school but this might be an opportunity to explore supporting the needs that we have at the cherry we're overcrowded by maybe having an eight through twelve school and maybe even having a seven to twelve school that in the chart that we have on the screen really shows that if we have a seven to twelve school option we could have our school system configurable differently bringing relief around the space issues at every level if we had an eight to twelve school it would provide relief at the middle school but we would still have some concern about our elementary level and if it was just a nine to twelve school would be fortunate enough to have a new high school how do these options complicate the work that you're doing with the building committee and i read to  well it's just part of the process john those three configurations that you outlined were it was no easy task to get to them if you're a member who has the right we asked many questions different different configurations all the way down to elementary school member and this is not new to them actually just so everyone understands that there are other districts in the state that have eight through twelve and seven through twelve and we will certainly be visiting those as we move forward  t the process is challenged in that we're not just simply looking at a great configuration with a set number of design roman students we're looking at three different ones so the three different sizes we have one site other districts  many sites are looking at we have one and we have to make a work there with a site that's going to remain active throughout the construction of whatever the project may be you say a new school and let's just find that pretty carefully for people that are listening the m s b requires us to take each configuration look at it three ways clearly for the nine through twelve we need to look at it as a nine through twelve in the facility that exist today changing things around but as it is then we look at the other thing that nine through twelve and the eight through twelve and a seven through twelve us two other design solutions which is a renovation edition or a new so now you know you've really added the options there that we're looking at but we knew that going in we we adjusted what we think is an appropriate  duration for the feasibility study which is phase will be moving in after we get our design team and and we're prepared for we certainly you've been doing a lot of work as you mentioned with your facilitator getting that educational program ready which is going to be needed as we reimbursement rate for the project in that reimbursement rate will be on all reimbursable expenses that the bill that comes across in building the new building whether it's seven to twelve eight to twelve or nine to twelve that percentage has not been determined yet but it will be somewhere around thirty six seven percent so currently we sign an agreement to move into the feasibilities phase there are many agreements we have to sign along the way with the not really contributors to that percentage it comes from the state based on income and values that they plug into their algorithms in the state side so that is belmont's rate that will probably climb everest so  little one or two percent percentage points as we go to the final funding agreement based on some of our evaluations that will do through the next phase eligible cos you mentioned that before so if we have one hundred million dollars project does that mean we're going to get thirty six point eight nine million dollars back if we spent one hundred million dollars because the state does not consider all costs eligible so we work with them carefully that's why we have owners project manager they're well versed in that that was one of the  attributes we found so attractive to the group that we have board and they help us explain to us what those reversible costs are so that we can plug it into the or they can plug it into our cost models and find out what the real cost will be back to belmont i do want to remind you also that the m s b is quick to say it's not guaranteed cost or that they're contributing it's an agreement that we have to work towards with them continue to fall their guidelines to be able to achieve that reimbursement with fortunately able to be a community that resides in massachusetts in the end this be a is a huge help across the state so we welcome that the community is looking at this project as a very large project the reimbursement will be so much appreciated and i think the state agency is a gift to towns like belmont and other towns that it supports and then the next question that people ask after reimbursement is what's the timeline  they want to know we know when i meet with parents when will my will my third grade and what grade will they be in if when the school opens and if my child's in fourth grade and you and i have been talking a lot about not wanting to put exact dates next to any of these timelines we're trying to get through each module one by one so i did have a screen out there that had the m s b able on jewels on it and if i think that will be shown in a moment can you walk us through those modules a little bit everybody wants to know the dates but we're just trying to take it one one step at a time as a building committee this is a this is actually a diagram that the m s p put together and it's very helpful to demonstrate what these modules modules are they have eight of them someone said what's a module it's it's a face or the or the design team so we checked off the the first module which is the eligibility here we talked about that we're now forming the team which again following the state is taking us a good six six months if not more we were given notice of moving into the next phase from eligibility in november of two thousand and sixteen week spec to probably have a signed agreement in place with our design team probably right after the july fourth holiday  for so then we kick off our feasibility study with the configurations we talked about john that will probably take a good year just to flush all that out and come to a recommendation that we feel is most appropriate for belmont solution i don't know what that is yet that will be the exciting part of working here this with with everybody in the community this is not just school committee or building committee it's also going to be quite a few public meetings with with the community here their questions hear their input and engage in dialogue so then once we choose that design which we feel is most appropriate the s b a has to give the nod on that you mentioned that before another signed agreement with them and we move on to what's called schematic design where the project is really developed at a  level that talks about logistics and phasing and where do all the students go and all that sort of stuff certainly cost isn't there and then ultimately the full timeline is established we think that we can get through that  two thousand and eighteen with the hopes of then funding this project through agreement with the state and the belmont community somewhere towards the end of eighteen or only nineteen that's that's where we're thinking right now big picture and we're up against the clock a doesn't just allow you to take your time and do this they say you can take no more than thirty months from the time you kicked it off which was our nov two thousand and sixteen agreement to move into this feasibility stage beyond that  design and construction starts and buying out in phasing whether it's a slow phase project or or a big new project that's that's going to be something we'll have to work out i didn't answer your question fully because i don't summary the building committee has been in place for you know a good amount of meetings you probably already had about twelve or fifteen we've hired the o p m we're very excited about hiring the design architect this spring and i know that the teachers are excited after two or three meetings with the education facilitator and the excitement will build through next fall the fall of two thousand and seventeen so what are the next steps the last question what are the next steps for the building committee as we sit here in april of two thousand and seventeen what is the next six to eight months look like as you move forward that the community can take a take an eye to well what will we be doing right now another owners project managers on board is starting to solicit for the architectural design will be quite a process there it's a little different than what we did before the state actually runs that design process design selection process we will have three seats at the table to vote for the designer and and they'll guide us through that process during that time will also use our time effectively to have you continue with your educate plan updates probably involve several committee community meetings and then we'll start to gather existing information for the belmont high school site conditions out there will certainly start to look at site plans existing drawings make sure they're all put together so that when the design team is is signed up and on board we c send it their way and start with the information gathering that they need both educational site and also community feedback as to what what's important for the the right desire for the belmont high school bill thank you so much for being here at belmont schools now on behalf of the public schools in the community but i want the work that you do in the entire high school building committee does in we'll do i want to think that as well we have very fortunate to have a great group of