Parents’ pick: 8th grade to Rodman, preK to elementary

It’s still early in the planning process, but an informal poll of parents attending a public hearing on a new school facilities master plan favored a new grade configuration that would have pre-kindergarten through grade 4 students at each of the elementary schools; grades 5-7 at the Galvin Middle School; grade 8 students at a newly renovated Rodman building; and grades 9-12 at CHS.

In addition, the central administrative offices would move out of the Rodman building and relocate to the Galvin. The long-term cost of this plan, identified by consultants as option 5B.1, has been pegged at $213.9 million.

The second preference among those in attendance as well as a working group of CPS administrators included a similar grade configuration of preK-4 at each of the elementary schools, grades 5-8 at GMS, 9-12 at CHS, and the central offices remaining in the Rodman building. This option would cost an estimated $192.7 million and would involve a major renovation at the Galvin, where grades 5-6 would be housed in one half and grades 7 and 8 in the other half. The renovated Rodman building would also serve as overflow instructional space for the high school.

Representatives of Dore and Whittier, a private facilities planning and architectural firm, recommended a total of five options to the School Committee and the public last Thursday evening, June 15, in the CHS cafeteria. Roughly 55 parents attended and approximately 22-25 of them voiced their preference for the aforementioned 5B.1 option. Toward the end of the meeting, parents were asked to list pros and cons of each of the five options put forward by Dore & Whittier.

The firm has spent the entire 2016-17 school year evaluating all of the public school facilities in Canton as well as space configurations and costs for repairs and renovations. They have also invited committee members, administrators and teachers to tour other school systems to see new trends in classroom configurations.

School Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Fischer-Mueller expressed excitement over the prospect of moving the eighth grade students to a separate “academy” at the Rodman, noting that 13- to 14-year-old students are at a critical developmental stage in their lives. On the other hand, if option 5A were to be implemented, Fischer-Mueller stressed the importance of aligning grades 5-6 and grades 7-8. She also said that given a choice, she would like the central offices to be located near or within a school.

Jason Boone of Dore & Whittier, who moderated the meeting, said two main concepts came out of the visioning group consisting of administrators, staff and School Committee members. The first was that pre-kindergarten should be at the neighborhood elementary schools, and the second was that eighth grade students felt more aligned with ninth graders than seventh graders.

Boone said the Rodman reconstruction would be fairly extensive, and while the building is structurally sound, he said there would still be planning challenges, including providing a food service facility if the eighth graders were to move to the building.

Dore & Whittier staff plan to review the input received Thursday night and will report back to the School Committee at the end of the summer, with a final report expected by late September or early October.

School Committee Chairman Mike Loughran said once the report is finalized, the committee will consider all options and will also consult with the Capital Planning Committee, Finance Committee, and Board of Selectmen on any future moves.

If option 5B.1 should move forward, Dore & Whittier presented a timetable of construction projects, starting in the next two years with the placement of modular classrooms at the elementary schools to accommodate the pre-K students. That would be followed by a major renovation project at GMS (2018-24); a temporary relocation of central offices; renovation of the Rodman building into a grade 8 academy (2018-21); and renovations to the JFK (2023-29), Hansen (2028-34), Luce (2033-39), and Canton High School (2038-42).

The construction timetable for option 5A would include installation of modular classrooms at the JFK (2017-18); renovation of GMS (2018-24); minor elementary school renovations (before 2024); further renovation of JFK (2023-29); renovation of the Rodman building for district offices (2025-28); and renovations to the Hansen, Luce and CHS.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Jun 23 2017. Filed under News, Schools. Both comments and pings are currently closed.