SC greenlights Prudence Island School leaseback RFPs

Last night's meeting of the Portsmouth School Committee was the most civil in ages, and not just because Chairperson Wedge announced a renewed adherence to parliamentary procedure and threatened to call the cops if people are disruptive. But that probably helped.

The big item was the Prudence Island School. With just two students currently in this one-room schoolhouse, there have been persistent calls to close the school to save money.

Richard Carpender and the Prudence Island subcommittee reported on the results of their investigation, and while there is not a lot of money to be saved by closing the school (those two students would have to be tuitioned into Bristol, at a cost of $24k) they did some out-of-box thinking and came up with a leaseback approach.

Under the proposal, the Town would transfer the property to one of the several RI historical societies which might be interested, and lease the space back at a pre-determined rate. This would move the maintenance costs out of the school budget, allow for predictable funding, and retain the school as an option in the event there are more kids on the island.

While the School Committee and audience had some questions about the details of the leaseback arrangement (setting a cap on the yearly amount lower than the cost of closing, understanding the total capacity, investigating fire code regs) there was general agreement, and even a note of approval from one of the PCC members in the audience for the subcommittee's work. The SC voted to approve the preparation of RFPs to historical societies, subject to the Town Council's approval.

In tonight's HeaneyWatch™, the Jamester popped into the approval of the SC by-laws with "What happens when a by-law is broken?" Now, I'll admit that I wouldn't have known the answer to that last week, before I started reading Robert's Rules, but shouldn't someone who was already on the Town Council know the answer to that question? Hint: As Doug Wilkie said, you raise a point of order. Faucher added that it can call into question the validity of any action that was taken in contravention of the by-laws. See, for example, RONR (10th ed.), p 106, l. 20-24.