The Portsmouth school facilities committee unanimously voted tonight to recommend a phased approach toward building a new school to eventually serve the community's elementary students. With modifications, the committee agreed on the second of four options provided by consulting firm Robinson Green Beretta (RGB) in their facilities report delivered to the school committee in January.

The original RGB "Option #2" approach specifies returning fifth grade to the middle school, closing the Elmhurst and Hathaway schools, performing renovations at Melville to convert it to pre-K through first grade, and building a new grade 2-4 elementary school.

Among the recommended modifications to "Option #2" were further analysis of fit with district pedagogical approach and coherence with the results of the Future Search and strategic plan, a "status quo" startup phase, possibly of several years, where existing facilities are maintained (in recognition of current economic conditions), and consideration of a modular facility that could start smaller and be expanded.

The committee discussed the importance of a phased approach to any construction to minimize dislocation of students, and pending further analysis, leaned toward migrating the population in stages.

Further refinement of the proposal — including specifying the stages, which students would move when, and a breakout of cost by phase — is work still to be done, assuming the approach meets with approval from the full school committee at a future meeting. And, of course, any capital expenditure requiring a bond would need to go to the Town Council and the voters.

See previous coverage of facilities issues.

Full disclosure: I am an appointed member of the facilities committee, but this does not constitute an official report of the actions of the committee. Such report and the official wording of the recommendation would necessarily come from the chair. I'm reporting from my own notes taken at a public meeting.

The newly expanded Portsmouth school facilities committee met for the first time this evening, and the 90-minute session focused on reviewing the tasks ahead and determining working process and timelines for the group. School Committees member Mike Buddemeyer continues to serve as chair of the group, expanded from six to its present 20 members.

With the starting point the four facilities options developed by the initial committee and consultant RGB (available on the Portsmouth school department web site) the committee is tasked with "develop[ing] a long-range facilities plan for the Portsmouth School Department," according to the charter distributed at the meeting. This evening, the group determined the need for bi-monthly meetings, and set an initial goal of a recommendation to the School Committee by November, in time to impact next year's budget process.

In addition to Buddemeyer, the group comprises the original members (Don Davidson, PSD Facilities manager, Terri Cortvriend, Al Grande, Steve Forand, and me) and broad representation from the community: Joseph Amaral (PMS principal), Joanne Olsen (Melville principal), Al Honnen (designated PSD administration representative), Emily Copeland (Elmhurst PTO), Kelly Heitmann (Elmhurst PTO), Jenny Swider (Melville PTO), John Tobin (Hathaway PTO), Duncan Ingraham (community), Allen Shers (community), Jonathan Harris (community), Christopher Bicho (community), Matt Viana (community), Sylvia Wedge (School Committee) and Keith Hamilton (Town Council).

Next meeting will be Wednesday, April 1.

Full disclosure: I am an appointed member of the facilities committee. I'll stick this disclaimer on every time I post about it, just to be very clear.

Portsmouth Superintendent Susan Lusi presents numbers as Finance Chair Mike Buddemeyer (r) looks on.

The Portsmouth school finance committee tonight discussed a proposal to close the Elmhurst school next year, apportioning the students to the two remaining elementaries and making room by shifting grades 4 and 5 to a separate space in the middle school. The move would save $390K the first year, even after one-time moving costs of $87K are deducted.

It was the first time that the finance committee (Mike Buddemeyer, chair, Marilyn King and Marge Levesque), the other school committee members (Sylvia Wedge and Angela Volpicelli), or the 50 community members in attendance had heard the proposal from school administration, and there was a good deal of questioning and back-and-forth in a meeting that lasted almost three hours.

"It's not that we want to do this, but if we had to do this, what are our options," said Superintendent Susan Lusi, introducing the plan. "Could the students fit? The answer is yes." The proposed shift would move the upper grades from Hathaway and Melville to one side of the middle school, which would free up enough classroom space to accommodate Pre-K through grade 3. Lusi stressed that middle schoolers would never mix with the elementary kids.

"It would be two programs sharing one building," she said. "With separate lunches, classrooms and teacher teams. It does not change the grade 4-5 curriculum, and teachers would relocate with their grade level." In addition, she said, the admin team continues to explore separate start times and separate busses.

The first question from Buddemeyer was travel time, but Lusi said that they had not yet met with the bus company, that one hour was the state maximum, and the aim was to come in below that number. Marge Levesque probed on how close the move would bring the buildings to capacity and the effect of having larger classes. Lusi assured the committee that class sizes would not change significantly.

There would be around 300 students at the two elementaries, said Lusi, and while the total numbers of grade 4 and 5 at the middle school would be around 400, "It would be a little larger than the Pre-K-3 elementaries, but not larger than Hathaway is now."

Elmhurst parent Jonathan Harris took issue with the enrollment projections, citing national birthrate data from the CDC which he argued contradicted the numbers provided by the New England School Development Council (NESDEC). "NESDEC is a free service and should not be relied on," he said. In addition, Harris argued, additional staffing at Naval Station Newport might well push student numbers up. Lusi noted that NESDEC had been reliable in the past "they were 6 students off this prior year," and that she had attended a meeting to get information about base staffing, but would investigate further.

One of the areas identified as a source of cost saving was a reduction of a librarian, and I asked about the implications of this for technology literacy, which is largely delivered in the elementaries by the librarians. Both Lusi and Assistant Superintendent Colleen Jermain reassured the community that both hardware and resources would be appropriate to ensure the delivery of the tech curriculum. "We haven't gotten down to the level of laptop carts," Lusi said, but promised that analysis would be done.

Elmhurst parent Jen Lehane sought and received reassurance that this required no new construction, and no trailers or temporary classroom space. Then she asked the $64K question: "Are we going to redistrict the entire elementary population?" Lusi deferred the question to the second part of her presentation, where the answer was that it was one of the options being considered.

Parent Chris Bicho acknowledged that this was not an easy decision to make, but wondered if it was truly necessary to do anything at this point. "Parents at Elmhurst are successful," he said, "because 'no' is not in their vocabulary."

Editorial note: I think we all recognize that when something as emotionally heated as closing a school is on the table, folks get a little excited. But we should remember that we're all in this together and divisive rhetoric won't help build the kind of town-wide coalition needed to pass bonds for school construction. I feel the pain I heard tonight from other parents. I really like Hathaway, and so does my son Jack, and I have no desire to send my 9-year-old on a bus to the middle school next September. But these are not ordinary times, and if we are to get through them and come out the other side, we need to work together and show the courage and resilience that our parents (or grandparents) did in the Great Depression. Our parents survived, and we can too. But we need to accept reality, however unpleasant it may be, and fare forward together. When the situation dictates and our options are exhausted, we need to be able to accept 'no" for an answer. It is not failure; it is rationality.

In the second part of the presentation, Lusi went through some of the logistics; of particular interest was a discussion of the impact on the work of the facilities committee. Bottom line is that redistributing the students would not foreclose any of the top options being considered.

Levesque said that while the move might "make sense from dollars and cents," she remained concerned about the effect on the students. Lusi reiterated that the curriculum would not change, that the teachers would go with the students, and noted, "A building is necessary but not sufficient for teaching and learning, it's what happens in those classrooms [that matters]."

One parent asked if, rather than just the salary freeze that had been talked about, whether the committee had considered a pay cut as a way to close the budget gap and keep Elmhurst open. "Are you considering a reduction, not just a freezing. We're told that everything is on the table." Buddemeyer said that they had considered a freeze as the starting position.

Editorial note: Okay, we're feeling like something is being taken away from us, but let's try to walk a mile in the teacher's shoes here. How do you think they'd feel about taking a pay cut to keep Elmhurst open. How would you feel about taking a cut just so your company could keep its current address? If, instead, they could save money by moving and keep paying you what you make now? What would you say?

Town Councilor Jeff Plumb accurately noted that while the school department would realize operational savings of $145K from abandoning Elmhurst, the Town would need to pick up some of those maintenance costs. And he pushed the committee to articulate a strategy beyond just closing the school. "I want to see a positive approach to an end game," he said. Buddemeyer assured him that was the role of the facilities committee. "Our end game is to get something that's going to be sustainable. It has to be something that is realistic."

Elmhurst PTO president Kelly Heitmann questioned how the effects on students would be tracked and measured, and wondered about the soft costs. "It's not going to be zero impact on our children," said Heitmann, "There's this culture that happens at a school. How are we going to keep track of that?"

Lusi answered honestly. "We're going to recognize that in any change, soft costs occur. In our recent change, moving 5th grade back to the elementaries, there was a lot of angst. But when I walked through the schools, just before the holidays, I heard by and large positive reviews. But are there soft costs? Absolutely."

Parent Ian Mitchell noted the history of bonds for capital projects in town and worried about how to ensure that funding for a long-term solution was approved. "I don't like the word 'chance' to be associated with education," said Mitchell.

Buddemeyer noted that while the "cheapest" option might be more palatable to sell to the voters, "The cheapest may not be the right thing to do, long term goal. That's what I'm charged with." Buddemeyer noted that one of the tasks of the facilities committee would be to build the platform for change and convince the community to support the necessary bond.

One parent, expressing frustration with the emphasis on the economic, asked what the administration and committee were doing in service of academic excellence. While Dr. Lusi stayed focused on the facts and offered a few concrete examples, parent Chris Carceller took to the microphone and went into a rant that deserves quoting at length.

"You show up when it affects you," she said to the group, noting that she had been involved in the schools and coming to meetings for several years. "I've gotten to know Dr. Lusi and the administration very well. She doesn't want to close a school She doesn't want to do any of these cost-cutting things. But when the State says they might cut your budget, where would you like her to get this money from? I was part of the Future Search. She asked 95 members of our community to participate, and we spent two full days — not talking about the budget. She didn't have to do this. There were people there who were grandparents, people without kids in the schools, not just parents, and I was surprised that we had the same vision for the schools. I believe we can pass a bond if we all have the same vision. Our town has a vision for better education and this is Dr. Lusi's vision also. She has been trying to hang onto everything that she can hang on to. If we have to close Elmhurst, it's because she's saving something else that's going to be cut."

I'll give Lusi the closing comment. She talked about advice she had gotten before she beaome Superintendent. "Superintendents come and go," went the advice, "But the community owns the school." She reminded the parents that they were part of the solution. "If we want the community to pass a bond, we need to get the community to work on it," she said. "At the end of the day, the community decides. And you are all part of that. Coming here is very important, and i genuinely thank you for that, but it is only one part of what needs to happen if things are going to change."

There were about 40 people at the Portsmouth School Committee meeting last night, and many of them were from Elmhurst, there to discuss the possible closing of that school. There were two items of interest on the agenda, one related to the Facilities Committee which has been doing the long-range plan, and one proposed by an Elmhurst parent.

School Committee chair Dick Carpender made a very clear distinction between the two. "The Facilities Committee was never charged with coming up with a recommendation to close Elmhurst," said Carpender. "This was a long term planning effort. It does not have anything to do with the other item this evening."

Facilities chair Michael Buddemeyer, proposed, and the School Committee passed unanimously, a motion to enlarge the committee to include a parent from each elementary, a member of the Town Council, the School Committee, school district administration, possibly an elementary principal, and two community members. The goal is to have this group in place by the first week of March.

"We want everyone to have input," Buddemeyer said, while acknowledging that "We're not going to satisfy every single person in town."

Elmhurst parent Elizabeth Dellinbaugh had requested the agenda item on the short-term options for Elmhurst, and she shared a list of concerns with the School Committeee, the foremost of which was a request to "show us your work," an insight she said struck her while helping her second-grade son with his math homework.

"We really need you to show us," said Deillinbaugh. "Show us very simply what the impact of closing Elmnhurst will be. How long students will be on buses. What exactly the budget savings would be. Additional revenues from any closed sites. Show us you have addressed the biggest line item, salaries and benefits, or closing a school will save nothing. Show us that any closure is part of a well thought out plan. That you've considered the impact on local housing values. That it will support the goals and aspirations of the Future Search. We haven't been shown that yet, we're eager to hear. I respectfully suggest that if you can't show us that work, we're not ready to close an elementary school in 2009."

Carpender noted that the Town Council had asked similar questions at the meeting last week, and that the School Committee shared the concern for fact-based decisions. "If Dr. Lusi came to us and said 'I want to close Elmhurst but have no data,' we would say the same thing," said Carpender. "We're not going to make any decisions unless we know it makes sense, and we'll share that data with whoever comes to our meetings."

Elmhurst PTO president Kelly Heitmann suggested an approach similar to the business world with multiple budgets for different scenarios, and asked the committee to consider ways to seek ideas and input from the community. "Enlist the community to think of alternatives and solutions," said Heitmann. "They're pretty astute, and they do follow the budget process." Carpender said that multiple budget scenarios was the approach they had already decided to take.

There was some back-and-forth with parents about what information needed to be developed — bus routes, clssrooms, total amount to be saved — with Lusi reiterating that the level of detail necessary to support such decisions was not "just sitting on my computer" but that it would need to be created as part of the budget process.

"I never intended to convey that we would be waiting at end of March," said Lusi, "Nor that it would be available on the web site by Friday. We want the information to be as accurate as possible."

"One of the worst things we can do," said Carpender, "Is speed up the process and make decisions based on bad data."

After a discussion of the December financials, which painted a precariously tight picture, but one still on track to end the year in balance, the committee turned to consideration of a letter to the state legislature to modify the S3050 tax cap.

The item, put on the agenda by Carpender, was a proposal to ask legislators to modify the current tax cap law to allow municipalities to take the growth of the tax base into account. Next year's cap is a 4.75% increase on the total amount of tax levied by the municipality, irrespective of any new taxable properties. "If we go to the limit," said Carpender, "And the tax base grows we can't use that as additional revenue. It has to go into reducing the tax rate even further."

School Finance Director Christine Tague, who had experience with the similar Proposition 2.5 when she worked in Massachusetts, noted that such a change had been instituted there. "After 5 years there became so much pressure on service levels, they allowed new growth," said Tague. Which made sense, she said, since "New growth, new building structures require new services." She added that her rough analysis in Portsmouth showed that over the past two years there could have been an additional $1.5M in revenue without any affect on the tax rate.

School committee member Jamie Heaney spoke in support of the motion. "When 3050 was proposed, this was my major gripe," he said, because of the problems it creates, "When you limit what you can levy, and your town is expanding."

Failed Town Council Candidate and PCC newsletter editor Joe Robicheau got up to the microphone to object to the characterization of the proposed change as not affecting tax rates. Under 3050, he noted, property taxes are reduced by new growth. "If you eliminate that, If you spend new growth, taxes will not go down."

Heaney responded that ultimately, the decision on increases rests with the Council. "Technically, they wouldn't have to increase at all," he pointed out. The committee voted to draft a letter to the Portsmouth delegation, and Carpender promised to raise the issue with the Town Council to gauge their interest.

In other business, there were two wonderful celebratory moments, with the School Committee showing their appreciation of the Portsmouth Economic Development Committee for their work on the Wind Turbine, and celebrating the accomplishments of four PHS students who won statewide scholastic art awards (as well as their teacher, Rose Escobar.)

Also, PHS principal Bob Littlefield discussed changes to the course offerings to add a new Civics elective, a combined Math and English SAT prep, and a 10th-grade science fair connected with the Chemistry course.

Superintendent Susan Lusi addresses Elmhurst PTO.

More than 100 parents and local residents packed the Elmhurst music room tonight for a question and answer session with Portsmouth Superintendent Susan Lusi, and all the questions focused on the future of their school. With rumors about closing Elmhurst swirling in the community, there were dozens of questions, and Lusi warned everyone up front that there were still many unknowns.

"You will leave here with questions," Lusi said.

The meeting was organized by the Elmhurst Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and president Kelly Heitmann chaired the session and scribed questions with an LCD projector as people took their turn at the microphone in a very civil, orderly process. Then the meeting broke for a few minutes as Lusi organized responses. What follows is a rough transcript; if you were there and spot anything I got wrong, just let me know.

Responding to questions about why closing Elmhurst is being considered
I'm going to start with context. Mid-year budget cuts [from the state]. I don't know our budget for THIS year, not to mention next year. We are the only state without a funding formula for education. On local side, you have a Council elected in November that strongly believes they were elected to keep costs down and not even go to cap. [The S3050 cap on the increase in total tax levied by the town.] Total budget is $36M, [and at cap next year there would be a] $1.2M increase. While a million is a lot to a person in their home, on a $36M budget, that's not a lot of money. For anyone in this room to think that I as your Superintendent can control all the factors, you are sadly mistaken. When people make the final decision on budget, the School Committee recommends to Town Council by March 25. Then the Town Council goes through their review. Prior to March 25, there will be Finance Committee meetings, just starting now. Council does not vote budget until next to last week in June.

Questions about districting and class sizes
The official School Committee policy has never recognized community boundaries. Was done as matter of practice. But in the past few years, we have [moved students to maximize class sizes] and used staff to maximum possible. The maximum class size for Pre-K-Kindergarten is 21, Grades 1-2, 22 and Grades 3+, 25. Question about class size cap remain the same. Fact of the matter is, most of our classes are very close to cap.

Why now?
Part of it is budget, but not all. We have a history of deferred maintenance in our buildings. We have clean buildings, we do not have buildings that have kept up with the times. The history of capital projects in this town, there is a $350K bond each year for capital and maintenance. When you look at the RGB report, $350K doesn't go very far. There has not been a solid plan for where we're going in the future. That's why the Facilities Committee hired RGB. The State, over past few years, recognized housing aid is a very large expense and is looking at the master plan of a district if they are asking for additional funds. We would have no chance for a dime without plan. [In summary, why now] Budget, deferred maintenance, declining enrollment.

What about new Navy staffing projected for Newport
Navy not anticipating new families. We do look at housing starts. Send to NESDC. They do enrollment projections. Last year, their estimate was six students off. The best information we have now is that we are not in a period of increasing enrollment. We are, as a state, losing population.

Have we taken regionalization into account.
Not in the current facilities report. There is an Aquidneck Island group [looking at regionalization]. We have contracted with RIPEC to do a study of regionalization. Supposed to be done in late February.

How does this track with the Future Search conference.
Report out in a couple of weeks. Will result in a strategic plan. Goals of Future Search and the Facilities Committee were to look long term at what we wanted and needed in this community. The budget discussion is just starting. We will be putting together scenarios. If state aid is level funded, if it's cut 10%, if it's cut by the total $1M, then we have this discussion.

Are we talking with the teachers
We are in negotiations with our teachers. We have wonderful teachers in this community. Why do you have high test scores at Elmhurst? Teachers and community. Also the highest socioeconomic status in Portsmouth, and possibly Aquidneck Island. We have phenomenal teachers at our other elementary schools too. Your children, if you have high achieving children, will be high achieving in these other schools. I respect the people who are concerned about what's happening to their kids education, respect the right to do petitions, come to meetings like this. I do not respect reaching out to teacher's union asking them to get involved. I don't want teachers put in the middle of this. We would have a problem, given state aid, if nothing happened in the contract. You can do whatever you want. But strongly encourage you to value our teachers and not put them in the middle.

What would closing Elmhurst do to real estate values
At a recent meeting, a person asked about flight from Portsmouth if Elmhurst closed. I was an economics major. You know [economies] are driven by expectations. If all of us run around saying property values will plunge we may be creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. If it were the case that those people felt it intolerable to have their children educated with children from other schools, then you would see an exodus between elementary and middle school. That is not the pattern I see here in Portsmouth. Our collective behavior will have a dramatic influence on the outcomes that result.

Has any decision been made?
Absolutely not. Closing a school is the third rail of the superintendent's job. It's not like I woke up one day and said, oh for fun, this year I'm closing Elmhurst. Were it not for the budget picture, i would love to say to you we would do nothing with Elmhurst for at least a year. The problem is that i can't give you and the rest of the community the list of tradeoffs, so i cannot in good conscience recommend to the school committee, absent a fuller discussion, to make that proclamation right now. Trust me, if i thought i could in good conscience make that recommendation, i would make it tomorrow night. I did not come to Portsmouth to create unrest in our community. I did come here and discovered issues that I don't think anyone anticipated.

Classroom space for closing vs. estimates in facilities plan
When RGB talks about classrooms, they used class size of 22. The RGB approach makes sense from a planning perspective. You don't want to plan so tight that if you have 5 more kids you can't put them in the rooms. If we were in a system in crisis, which I'm not saying we are, I'd go around counting classrooms. [This is] A budgetary approach in tight times, not planning.

What if we close the school and the bond for renovation/construction fails
That's a very legitimate question. The Gym took years. Were I in your shoes, i would be pressing very hard for what's the long range plan and the guarantee that plan will be delivered on. We may be at odds at times. I will be bringing to committee recommendations, your job to ask these questions. Wouldn't it be great if this many people were at a town council meeting. If elected officials do not hear from you, they will naturally support the people they hear the most from. I respect every member of our Town Council. When they say they were elected to keep the costs down, below the cap, looking at election results, I can't dispute that. I have to show you the tradeoffs before you can decide you want to do that.

If we did make move, what would process be.
I would be trying to get input about the questions you raised. Would all schools be redistricted? We would ask parents. What about moving teachers? We would ask them first and ask their preferences, i would try to consult with teachers as well. We will put cost-savings numbers together. Take our moving costs, look at staff. The staff savings would be quite small. There would be maybe some administrative savings. [Sorry, Bob] By closing school you do not, by definition, reduce the number of teachers. And we always present financial information to the School Committee first.

What happens to building.
Depends how we leave the building. If we abandon for education, it goes back to the town. There are times school committees have mothballed a school without abandoning it. We have not done analysis of value; it seemed premature, it's not our property, it is the town's. Who would pay for appraisal. It's up to the Town Council what happens to the proceeds if anything were done. The School District does not control those decisions.

One last thing
You may be wondering why did we start this discussion at all given that we don't have all the information. From where I sit, that feels like a Catch-22. If I wait, people feel like I snuck up on them. But you put it out at this point in time, people feel all riled up. Throughout my career in public service, i have had a debate about when to start these conversations. Absolutely reasonable people can disagree. I would like to be able to give an absolute drop-dead date. We present the budget to the Town Council March 25, hopefully have more information by then. At the very least we will have discussed a number of scenarios.

Question & Answer session
Q: Music, art, enrichement?
All of our schools have enrichment. Really thanks to all of you, the PTOs and others who put it on. I do not see enrichment changing. Music is a very big issue in this community. Certainly not looking to cut them.

School Committee Vice-Chair Sylvia Wedge reminds question on structure.
The building is structurally sound. Engineer said the building is sound. About the Fire code and why we're "just hearing now." It's true that it changed in 2005. Portsmouth and many communities have been struggling. About two and a half years ago we entered into agreement with state fire code board of review to sprinkler one building a year. We've done Middle School, PHS, and now will do one elementary a year. At the joint meeting with the Town Council the question came up about the Fire marshall and could we get extension because of facilities plan. I have a meeting later with Town Administrator and the Portsmouth Fire Department to discuss. Before we go to the state, it's important to have support of own Fire Department.

Q: Is there anything we can do to keep school open.
Do what you're doing. Stay engaged. Ask questions. Lobby. You will also need to look at the tradeoffs, once they're apparent. If i could in good faith say that we will not [close Elmhurst] next year, i would love to do that. In the long term, everyone here should look at future. Continually repairing buildings of a certain age is not the right approach. [In the Future Search conference] one thing that came through loud and clear, people want appropriate, green, and technologically advanced schools. It's not clear to me that we want to stick with our current configuration in the long term.

Q: [About the fire code] if we do Hathaway then Melville, we're 3 years down the road. So we have 3 years before we'reup against it. What other issues than fire code.
A: Operational costs, transportation.
Q: You said that you haven't counted the rooms [how do you know you could fit in the remaining schools]. My 7-year-old said don't let them close my awesome school.
A: Respectfully, I didn't say [we hadn't counted the rooms].
Q: I don't see how you can make decisions without proper information. We're talking about closing a school this year. I'm just missing it.
A: I would encourage everyone to go to web site. Full facilities report is there. At Elmhurst 1-5 years, need to spend $5M.
Q: Are these classified as must-dos.
A: [Description of Priority 1 and 2; suggestion to look at the report]

Q: When i looked, the option for renovation of the three elementary schools was least expensive.
The facilities committee was asked to look at what we need in the long term.

Q: You're talking budget. The strategic process is different. [In business] I have to have a long term plan.
[They] should go hand in hand, except in the public sector when you don't have a funding formula. I can't, for example, charge user fees. Some states have independent school districts that have taxing authority for schools. [Ideas like this need to be addressed to the legislature]

Representative Amy Rice:
I'm your state representative. Please don't throw anything. You had touched upon [budget] discussions with state. [And why not all the information was available to make decisions] The process is a beast, for lack of a better word. That state process is different from town process. Governor presents budget. Then the House Finance committee analyzes it, taking testimony. I'm working hard to keep bus monitors on board. I opposed the Governor's proposed cuts to cities and towns and schools. I'm a strong believer in supporting public schools. We are going to try to do the best we can, but we don't know yet. That is why discussions haven't yet begun, we're in the process of analyzing. It's a hard thing to come up with money. I also served on the Town Council locally, and you ask "what can you do," it comes down to 4 votes on the council. No matter what the School Committee does. It's the hand they get dealt. Whatever we come up with, it comes down to 4 votes on the Council [...] Engage the council.

Wrap up
Kelly Heitman said that the questions and answers would be posted on EPTO Web site, and reminded the group that there is a petition there as well.

Liz Harris, EPTO vice president. "If nothing else, I hope this reinforces a very real threat." In response to a question about how useful signing petitions would be. "I think the Town Council is listening, I believe the School Committee is listening."

Full disclosure: I am an appointed member of the Facilities Committee.

The Portsmouth School Committee got its first look at the report on school buildings from consulting firm RGB, and all the options for dealing with the identified issues have pricetags in excess of $20 million. Facilities committee chair Mike Buddemeyer and consultant Steven Hughes of RGB delivered the report, more than three months in development, to the school committee at a well-attended meeting this evening at the high school.

"The school committee is receiving this report tonight for first time," said Chair Dick Carpender, introducing the agenda item. He stressed that this was not a decision-making meeting, but rather that the committee would take up the recommendations at a meeting on January 27th to consider next steps. "We will involve the public," he promised. "We are not going to do this in the dark."

The meeting had been moved to the High School auditorium because of anticipated turnout, and a large contingent of the more than 60 attendees seemed to be from the Elmhurst School, identified by RGB as having the most physical plant problems of the three elementaries.

Buddemeyer stressed the strategic nature of the analysis, which he noted was designed to comply with a new RI Department of Education (RIDE) requirement for 5-year capital plans. "The aim is to provide a long-term vision for the schools while being fiscally responsible," he said, adding that the process included a review all the school buildings, assessments of code compliance, needed maintenance and upgrades, a space needs analysis, and a prioritization of needed work into three buckets: priority "1" for life safety, "2" for action needed in 1-5 years, and "3" for issues to address in the 5-year-plus timeframe.

"Once the buildings were examined, we came up with planning options," said Buddemeyer. "Not just to fix things for today, not just for tomorrow, for the benefit of the town and our future."

Hughes, the RGB consultant, offered a challenging picture of the current buildings. Elmhurst has $1.5M in immediate needs plus $4.1M over five years, for a total of $5.6M. Hathaway $890K immediate, $2.1M 5-year, for $3M total. Melville is in the best shape, "the most efficient in the district," with $540K/$1.2M for a total of $1.6M.

The Middle school, though in relatively good shape, still requires $4.7M over 5 years, and the high school a total of 6.3M. The Administration building would require $700K over 5 years. (All these numbers, in fact, the entire report, will be posted on the School Department Web site tomorrow; I'll add a link here as soon as available.)

"The Facilities Committee," said Buddemeyer, "Was charged with coming up with a future plan for the schools that was the best educationally and fiscally responsible." To that end, he said, in consultation with RGB they had prepared 4 scenarios, in descending order of preference.

Option 1: Keep grade 5 at the elementaries and use part of the Middle School for administration. Close Elmhurst and provide renovations to Melville and Hathaway to provide two Pre-K through grade 5 elementaries. Total 5-year cost, including all school repairs: $32M.

Option 2: Close Elmhurst and Hathaway. Grade 5 returns to Middle School. Renovations and additions to Melville for early learning, and construct a new grade 2-4 elementary. Total cost: $48M.

Option 3: Grade 5 returns to Middle School. Close Elmhurst and provide renovations/additions to Melville and Hathaway to create two Pre-K through 4 neighborhood elementaries. Total cost: $25M.

Option 4 (status quo): Renovate all three elementaries as needed. Total cost: $25M. (But, as Hughes pointed out, this cost begins to rise as you project further out, since a lot of the basic physical plant issues remain; projected out to 10 years, this actually exceeds Option 3.)

There were several questions from the school committee. Recently elected member Marilyn King wanted to know if RIDE would contribute to the costs, and Hughes said that the current level was 30% reimbursement, but that nobody could guarantee how long that would stand, given the state's current fiscal woes. Committee member Jamie Heaney asked if green technologies were considered, and Hughes assured him that was actually built into the RIDE regulations.

Then the audience had their turn, and Elmhurst PTO vice president Liz Harris said that she appreciated the long-term vision, but voiced the concerns of parents about the short term. "What is the timeline for closing Elmhurst?" Buddemeyer said that had not been part of the analysis. Carpender added that this could be a question that would come up in forthcoming budget discussions, and that they would know better within a few months.

Elmhurst parent Tammy Nelson urged the committee to consider the impact on the parents of Elmhurst. She noted that many located to that part of town specifically for the Elmhurst school. Another parent asked if the proposed changes would affect class sizes (answer: no). One member of the community asked if the cost estimates included any offsets for the potential value of the land at the Elmhurst site (Buddemeyer said that the committee had deferred that analysis, since it would have required hiring an appraiser.)

Parent Dawn Cardero had both praise and advice for the committee. She was glad to hear a discussion about investing in the schools. "Usually these meetings are about cuts," she said. However, she urged the committee to keep in mind not just the facilities, but the ultimate goal of superior education. "The reason we moved here was quality of education. It wasn't that beautiful town common," she said, to laughter. "Which one of these plans has the highest quality. That's what's going to keep the families coming."

Note: Will post a link here to the RGB report as soon as it's up on the PSD Web site.

Update: Here's the link.

Full disclosure: I am a member of the Facilities Committee.

Marjorie Wilkey presents PMS teacher Richard Price with late husband Doug Wilkey's trumpets.

It was an emotional evening at the Portsmouth School Committee meeting, as Marjorie Wilkey, widow of long-time member Doug Wilkey, presented PMS music teacher Richard Price with her late husband's trumpets.

Mr. Price, who was on hand to also receive a commendation from the committee for being named an East Bay Newspapers Teacher of the Year, thanked Mrs. Wilkey, and suggested changing the yearly band award at the Middle School to the "Mr. Wilkey Jazz Award," in her late husband's honor.

Assistant Superintendent Colleen Jermain announced that Portsmouth has been selected to participate in an exchange program with China, with 5 guests from a school there visiting Portsmouth in October, and Ms. Jermain scheduled to visit their school next April.

Jermain also talked about this year's "summer packet" initiative for Portsmouth students. Unlike last year's program, a paper workbook generously underwritten by Duncan Ingraham, students will now use Study Island, a web-based service, targeted to state grade level expectations, which provides instruction and testing that can adjust to student levels.

A major chunk of the agenda was a presentation by School Committee member Mike Buddemeyer, reporting on the results of school tours by the Facilities Committee, formed earlier this year to assess the school buildings and develop plans for the future. The committee, chaired by Buddemeyer, included Facilities Director Don Davidson and residents Steve Forand, Al Grande, and me.

"Tours of the schools showed, that while the buildings were meeting the basic needs of our teachers and students, there are key areas that have been neglected from a lack of long range plan of maintenance," said Buddemeyer, in prepared remarks. The areas identified by the committee, he said, were ADA compliance, HVAC, Electrical/wiring, infrastructure, and energy efficiency.

Buddemeyer narrated a Powerpoint slide show illustrating some of the issues identified on the tours, a litany of antique boilers, overtaxed ventilation systems, jury-rigged computer wiring, limited wheelchair bathrooms and peeling asbestos floor tile. He recommended the School Committee authorize a Request for Qualifications (a vendor qualification screen) to seek engineering firms to complete more detailed assessments and put dollar figures against the needed maintenance work.

Finance Director Chris Tague mentioned to the Committee that a 5-year plan is now a requirement from the RI Department of Education to secure any reimbursement for school housing money. "The days of just getting $350K a year are over," said Tague, noting that the new requirements would be phased in over the next few years. "We're set with warrants through 2011, but we would need to do this for any new money, so this is timely."

Facilities committee member Steve Forand urged the group to think strategically. "Five years is a good start," he said, "But that's not a long-range plan. Capital investments are enormous decision for this town to make. We've got to be looking 10-15 years out."

Finance committee chair Dick Carpender raised the sensitive question of what would happen if the engineering analysis showed it would cost more to fix the elementaries than to build a new one. "Does it make sense to say, it costs too much to fix that school?" asked Carpender, noting that some of the schools sit on potentially attractive real estate. "Could they be worth enough to sell off to offset the cost," he wondered.

"At every meeting, we've had this same discussion," said Buddemeyer, noting that, depending on what the engineering report revealed, it could be "a poor business decision" to invest in buildings that may have outlived their usefulness.

Facilities committee member Al Grande cut to the chase. "Basically, Elmhurst and Hathaway could be closed and sold to bring in money," said Grande, noting that this was just his personal opinion. "If you build a new school in back of the Middle School, on property the town already owns, it would be very energy efficient. Somewhere along the line, that thought will have to be considered in this town. We're wasting money pumping [it] into schools of that era."

The committee acknowledged that such questions were something that the citizens of the town would ultimately have to decide, but supported moving ahead with the RFQ to begin developing a fact base to inform the discussion.

In other business, the Committee formally adopted the budget bottom line as approved by the Town Council, including actions to incorporate a conservative one-third of the anticipated $130K increase in state aid, and to restore Middle School sports and defer the closing of Prudence Island for another year.

Islander Pat Rossi was on hand, and delivered a passionate plea to change the language of the motion so that students did not have the closing hanging over their heads for another year. "Students are very much aware of the School Committee votes to close the school," said Rossi. "This does weigh on these children. You have very young children, and they are scared. Let us return to these students and tell them that the closing of the PI school was taken off the record."

Both Finance Chair Dick Carpender and Chair Sylvia Wedge expressed their sympathy, but the committee voted unanimously to proceed with the language, granting the one-room schoolhouse on Prudence only another one-year reprieve.

A few contracts for building warrant items were awarded — PHS will be getting a new fire alarm system, track resurfacing, and new, energy-efficient windows. Next school committee meeting will be July 22.

Update: Newport Daily News has the story up.

Citing multiple errors of fact in their coverage of the Elmhurst School infrastructure issue, Portsmouth School Committee Vice-Chair Richard Carpender demanded a correction from WPRI CHannel 12 News Director Joseph Abouzeid, according to a letter obtained by hard deadlines this week. Calling the station's May 6 news story "irresponsible reporting," Carpender details at least six serious misstatements in reporter Danielle North's 2-minute piece.

Click to view pdf.

You can judge for yourself. The original story, as aired, is attached, and you can read Carpender's analysis in this PDF of his letter.

Among the incorrect statements Carpender identifies are claims that "the school is literally dropping down into the dirt," and "the mortar in the elementary school is crumbling away and one wing is sinking." Neither of these are true, says Carpender, citing the recent engineering analysis by Odeh Engineers (which North explicitly claims to have a copy of in her on-air report). Carpender sums it up like this:

"This report left viewers with the impression that the school was in distress raising safety issues which is [not] true, a new school has been recommended raising issues for taxpayers that are unfounded, and that the school was continuing to sink and crumble which is not true. This piece should have been based on the Odeh Structural Investigation Report that contains the latest information according to an engineer’s assessment instead of bits and pieces that raised unwarranted concerns for the citizens of Portsmouth.

I believe that Channel 12 owes the town of Portsmouth some corrective action and an apology."

Just for reference, the address of the WPRI news director:

Mr. Joseph Abouzeid
News Director Channel 12
25 Catamore Street
East Providence, Rhode Island 02914

L-R Lusi, Buddemeyer, Martin, Cortvriend, Heaney, West (behind) Wedge, Davidson.

Members of the Portsmouth School Committee and administration toured the Hathaway School tonight to review the maintenance and infrastructure needs, and also to get some history and perspective from principal Dr. Christina Martin. School Committee Chair Sylvia Wedge was joined by members Michael Buddemeyer, Terri Cortvriend and Jamie Heaney, as well as Town Council member Bill West. On hand from the administration were Superintendent Sue Lusi and Facilities Supervisor Don Davidson, who are conducting tours of all the PSD buildings for the Committee.

While much of the physical plant is in remarkably good shape — given that, as Dr. Martin explained, the original building dates from 1954, with additions in 1968 and a small piece done in 1999 — there are several hundred thousand dollars worth of work that needs to be done, including replacing windows, evaluating aging boilers and exhaust fans, upgrading the phone system, dealing with antique asbestos-tile flooring, and bringing the building up to current RI fire code.

While the exterior recreation area needs some new asphalt, Dr. Martin pointed out how much work the Hathaway community had contributed, with parents who had volunteered time for maintenance and an equipment shed which had been built and donated by a PHS senior as a project.

Jamie Heaney and Michael Buddemeyer investigate light fixtures.

And then there are little things. "Tennis balls," said Don Davidson. "Any donations would be appreciated." They use them to cushion the feet of student chairs, which saves wear and tear on flooring and reduces noise. And overhead lighting, while generally adequate, is uneven — and is supplied by florescent fixtures so old there are no longer spare parts available.

The age of some of the infrastructure was a recurring theme, as the tour wound through classrooms equipped with floppy-drive IBM PCs that had to date from the early 90s, and a filmstrip projector — still in active use — that could have come from a classroom out of my childhood. I expected to see it fire up and display Bert the Turtle, urging us to "Duck and Cover."

The old-school intercoms, mounted high on the wall and providing the sole method of communication from the office to the classrooms were delightfully archaic. (And vaguely troubling, like, what would you do if you wanted to get a message out to the whole school but didn't want to spook the kids? I know, I know, that's one of the things that Network Admin Jim Peluso is going to address by bringing the school onto a VOIP system and putting digital phones in each classroom, but that's at least a couple years off.)

But for awesome steampunk elegance, the hands-down winner in the antique category was an original clock, embedded into the wall of one of the classrooms, that operated the class time bells with a series of cams and electromechanical relays. It literally looked like something Sherlock Holmes would have been proud to have in his flat as the epitome of hip Victorian technology.

Amazing. Just amazing. And this was just one school. We need those building warrants this year, and we need them bad.