Close. I'm going to eat this thing. I can do that. Open the meeting. Migrant East Smalls building subitt. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Okay. Do we have any public comment?
Seeing none, we'll move on. Remember meeting over to Mark Smith and we'll go through. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh so first uh we've had a little bit of turnover on uh the committee so and
we've got these fancy new name plates. Thank you to Miss Miller. So I thought it might be a good time just to do some reintroductions. Uh so we can start maybe we'll start with Miss Argo on that side of the table. We just work our way around. Just a little uh brief and remember you just get up to the green
light to turn your mic on, but just a hi, who are you and what's your connection um to the town andor the school district um and your sort of want to be on the committee.
>> Thank you. My name is Liz Argo and I am a select board member for the town of Yarmouth and I'm currently harboring a chest thing. Hence, I'm trying to keep my distance. Um, I uh am very plugged into the needs of the town
coming forward over the next year. We have not only a new school as we all know that we need need desperately to replace Emmy Small, but we also have a possible library project which is in many ways supportive of the school
effort. Um and the schools are becoming more and more challenged with uh enrollment concerns and financial challenges that of course involve the town. So the town was very happy to recently get an energy manager on board
to hopefully help with the school district's energy um challenges. So, uh, I'm I'm very happy that the select board supported me in becoming a member of the Emmy Small Building Subcommittee, and I look forward to working with you all.
My name is Samantha Biron. I am currently the physical education teacher over at the Margarite E. Small Elementary School, and I am part of this committee because I just want to make sure that we build an amazing facility for our students. Thank you.
Steve Focher, director of facilities for Dent John schools. Uh we just completed this beautiful intermediate middle school project which I was uh involved in with quite a bit and I am looking forward to the elementary school projects. Uh both
my boys attended uh Emmy Small many years ago and uh it'll be a pleasure to see a new building soon. Thank you. I'm Beth Hollister and I am currently at Station Elementary School as a special
team chair, but I did many years at N small um and just here because I want to see um a new facility that's really going to support um all children and I need it to be clean and healthy and secure.
Nathan Ladley. Uh, I'm on the finance committee for Yarmouth and I'm also here as a member of the community. >> Hi, I'm Erin Lubash. I'm an intervention teacher at Emmy Small and like my colleagues, I'm invested in helping to
um create a new school for our students and staff. I'm Carol Mahy. I'm principal of Emmy Small and I'm here to give our families and children the best facility
they deserve. Uh Neilie Martin, I'm first grade teacher at Emmy Small. I'm here to hopefully encourage us all to make small accessible and um open to
all the changing students that we have coming to our doors every day. My name is Kurt Sez. I'm a member at lodge with Mark Smith, superintendent the schools. uh here one because I think I have to but um more more importantly um you know
I think one of the things that was apparent to me when I first started in the district was as we're uh finishing the work on this project uh that there was definitely ongoing facilities needs in the district. It's part of our
strategic plan and Emmy Small was our most pressing need district. Uh and so figuring out what that solution is to move forward for that building uh is something that I I see as a key part of my role as superintendent and uh and
supporting this committee in that process is I think one of my key functions. >> I'm Susan Gillson. I'm the director of finance and operations. It has been my pleasure to open up schools in both Connecticut and Massachusetts. I've seen
the joy that new schools can bring to whole ities um and children and so I'm very invested in um kids in Dennis and Mlet with my current position. >> Hi Will. I'm Will Rubenstein. I'm a member of the of the committee from the
community at large. I was lucky enough to spend two years as a volunteer big brother um at Emmy Small um every once a week lunch and recess for two straight years. And um I really love the school itself. Um and I'm excited to see with
an open mind what the future of the school is. Um I also was lucky enough to work on the school building committee for this school that we're sitting in now. Learned a lot and um again very much looking forward to see where this all goes. Thank you.
>> Good afternoon. I'm Richard Simon. Uh like Nate, I am a member of the finance committee in Yarmouth. uh and a member at large of the community. Thank you. >> Hello, I'm Erin Sullivan. I'm the executive director at Cape Cod
Children's Place and we support children and families throughout the Cape. I'm also um a member at large on this committee and a graduate of Emmy Small. >> Congratulations. That's a good one. That's a good one. I can't top that. Bob
Rittenau. Hello. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm your town administrator here in Yarmouth. So, I'm stakeholder in the process trying to help bring everyone together. I did serve also on the building committee for this school and I've
participated in very many school construction projects throughout my career, so hopefully I can offer some of that. >> Um, Emily Wenberg, special ed team chair at Emmy Small. I had one child that went through Emmy Small, one that's still there. Um, we have great teachers that
really do what they can to meet student needs, and I think we need a building that meets their needs, too. All right. Thank you. Uh so next I just wanted to provide is we didn't meet uh in December. So I just want to provide a couple of updates to the committee of
what's happened since the last met when we last met which really isn't much. Uh I think when we last met I mentioned that our eligibility period was going to come to an end. It came to an end on December 26th. At that time I mentioned we had submitted everything that we
needed to submit to the state. Uh, I didn't anticipate much. Well, actually, I didn't know. I didn't know if I was going to hear something before uh that 20 because it was December 26th, right? Imagine that's the holidays and everything. That's a funky date. I didn't know if I was going to
hear something before the 26th, but if I didn't hear something before the 26th, I didn't imagine I was going to hear something immediately after the 26th. So uh when I return but I did confirm prior to the 26th that we had submitted everything that we needed to submit for our eligibility period with the MSBA. I
have a liaison with the MSBA. I did confirm with that person that they had everything from us that they needed. So then when we return uh from the winter break uh the I think that was the fifth or sixth whatever that Monday was uh I didn't hear
anything on that Monday. Okay, so I sent an email on the 6th or again whatever that Tuesday was. I think that was the 6th of January to MSBA to again to my contact heard right back the next day. So on the 7th I got confirmation again
that uh we had everything that was in and what we are waiting for now is MSBA legal is working on our feasibility study agreement. um which is uh and this we're going to I'm going to go through some documents in a minute and you'll see some
references to it a little bit later but a feasibility study agreement is one of several uh legally binding documents that will come between uh that will start between the district and MSBA and it's a legally binding agreement uh which will outline what the feasibility
study has to look like it is a 17page the template is a 17page document so you imagine it's a ton of legal ease Uh but so that is what MSBA's attorney is drafting to send to us and then we'll review with our legal counsel and
that'll sort of be the next phase. And then the next bit is I did get confirmation that the the MSBA uh board meets um once a month and that we will be on the agenda for their February 25th meeting uh to be invited into the next
phase because again you have I think I've mentioned this in this group you get invited into the phases right so we invited into the eligibility phase and then we have to get invited into the next phase so as MSBA works on getting the feasibility studying agreement to us
as on their calendar. The next uh big step for us will be the MSBA board meeting. So I did get confirmation in those two things in email from my leazison and MSBA. Any questions on those two updates?
All right. So then I I want to uh the sort of big piece for I wanted to create a little space for some discussion uh around the feasibility agreement and scope uh of the feasibility study. But I want to sort of first frontload with a little bit of information.
So in the packet uh I provided and I'm going to maybe try to walk through the packet and do a little driving. I'm not sure how well that's going to work, but um I on if people haven't gone to the MSBA website, there is a ton of
information on this process on their website. Um so I've grabbed some things from there and put them in the packet. And again, some things from there. Just I want to really stress that word some because there is a ton about the
process. But just to sort of outline where we're going to be going over the next little bit of time. Um so on their website they have this section called build with us right and it talks about the it sort of outlines the steps of the
process. What we just completed was this uh initial steps in in the eligibility period which they call module one. Right? So we've completed everything in module one. Where we'll go next to is in
module two. Uh which I have in if you flip you know the agenda I I provided you with this summary page for module 2. And again just provides you with an an overview but one of the next big tasks that this group will work and provide
some guidance around is uh we're going to have to form our project team. Now, this is obviously a big part of the team, but the um what's the word I'm looking for? The
uh the biggest aid or our biggest ally, that's the word I was looking for. Our biggest ally in this project is going to be our OPM. Then OPM is short for owners project manager. So, I can just say from uh
coming on board with this project, the the intermediate middle school project, we're still working with that OPM um because of the uh the uh mitigation that was needed with the field turf. Uh we
haven't closed that project out yet with with MSBA, so we're still working with that OPM. Um Mr. Fosure could I'm sure could attest like that's been a great ongoing partnership. He's got a longer relationship with them, but they're they're your go-to for everything,
right? They're the experts in the process. They're the experts in the building. They're your owner's project manager. You know, anybody who's familiar with like building process, it's sort of like an old older version of like the clerk in the works, but it's just much more expansive, right? they
they work for the district to make sure everybody who's working on the project is doing everything that they're supposed to be doing. Um, and they're your um, yeah, they're your partner in the project a and helping you get through all the steps in the MSBA process,
advising you, and then again making sure that the contractor is doing what the contractor is supposed to be doing, the designer's doing what the designer supposed to be doing, etc. And they're your expert, they're your building expert in the process. And the our first step as a uh committee
or our ne one of our next big steps as a committee is going to be working about putting out a request for services. Again, this and all this and I want to stress some of this is all this is done in partnership with MSBA. MSBA has processes for their processes and they
we all have to do this um as uh you know they have templates for everything and there's a it all has to be sort of a done in agreement that there's a list of OPMs that that uh MSBA has has approved right so there's again there's you can
only stray so far from what MSBA has already or they allow you to do but so we'll one of the next things we'll do is we'll design will design an a request for services. And I know there's a lot of acronyms. So it's called an RFS for
your OPM. Yes. Um and so that essentially like a bidding process. You put what what is it that you want folks to do? They say, "Okay, yes, we can do those things and this is how much we anticipate it's
going to cost." And then this group will be will select who that uh that person is and then they will walk us through once that person's on board then they become a huge part of these meetings, right? They'll
largely take over helping us run these meetings and structure these meetings and walk us through all the subsequent steps. Um, they're going to help us file all the paperwork that needs to be filed with MSBA, and there is a ton of paperwork that has to be filed with
MSBA. Making sure that we're submitting everything that needs to be submitted for reimbursement, etc., etc., etc. Um, and making sure that we're following all the regulations the way they need to. The regulations alone are 52 pages of regulations, let alone sort of then all
the subsequent bulletins that have come out to explain the regulations, etc., etc., etc. Um they they once they're on board, they'll help us design the RFS and uh request for services for the designer because the designer is the one who actually does the feasibility study.
U the OPM helps us oversee but they don't do the feasibility study. The designer is the one who does the feasibility study, right? So, but they'll help us create the RFS and uh so again, so that's all sort of part of module two. That's everything I said is
summarized in a couple sentences here, but I just wanted to provide a little bit of on the next page. If you flip, it says feasibility study agreement on the top. Take me too long to figure out where it
is up there. Um, so the that's the document that I mentioned that um MSBA legal is working on sending the district. And as I mentioned, it's a a one of
three legal uh documents that'll that gets passed back and forth or that that binds MSBA to the district. And um as I mentioned, the template because you can uh the URL if you want
to see what the what the template or the if you want to find this page, the URL is at the very top of this page. massbuildings.orgbuilding back/ prerequisites bachel feasibility study group anybody who wants to and then this hyperlink will bring you to
the to 17 page if anybody's really you know having a hard time falling asleep tonight um but you can see what the template looks like I said it's 17 pages of legal ease um but uh a couple of key things I want to point out in this paragraph in this first paragraph here
is is the feasibility study agreement sets the next timeline and it's a 913 day time. So the eligibility period was a certain timeline uh forget the exact number of days but it brought us from
sometime when we got brought in which was in March if I remember correctly to December. Um so this is roughly just under three years right so this period is going to take some time right and and you can't necessarily accelerate
their timelines you and but but there's a lot that happens in the feasibility study um which I'm going to get to in a couple subsequent pages um and so then a couple of things have to have to happen so and I want to point out a couple of
these things have so first is the who's the notice person. So, who does MSBA say? Who does MSBA contact? Every time they need a document signed, every time they need to submit something, we have to identify who that person is. So, just so everybody knows, that person's me. And I've already told MSBA that person's
me. Um and then the next thing that they needed was a a rough estimate on how the money that was approved at town meetings. So the 1.5 million was going to be broken up among
the parts of the feasibility studies that is um on and then the other two items exhibit B and exhibit C have yet to be done except for the reimbursement rate. I've already said the base rate is
57.11% but there will be other opportunities for incentives but the exhibit A was submitted already to MSBA it's on the next uh it's not the next page but it's the page after that you can see at the
top it says exhibit exhibit A and you can see the breakdowns OPM um estimated cost the the the architect estimated cost the environmental estimated cost and the others estimated costs. This breakdown
came from uh three different uh things that I was that I did. One, I consulted with our current OPM to get an understanding of what the current market
uh yield is on existing projects. Uh, I consulted current superintendent who are who have projects that were in their in the MSBA pipeline and then I reviewed current MSBA data for similar scoped projects
and then applied the percentages to our um a lot. So MSBA has told me, you know, I also was like, "How hard are these numbers as far as once we get into um like when we actually go out to bid,
etc." They said, "You can revise these numbers once you get to al ultimately determining your bid, but they need something to start from." So these are again applying percent uh using those three things is where what I use to determine the breakdown of the 1.5 million.
Um and then the last see um the next page if you flip one more page this is I don't think I had provided this yet because I don't think we had it at the last letter but this is the certified
enrollment certification from MSBA. Um I know we had discussed the enrollment um document that we had gotten from MSBA that showed their analysis but I don't think by the time we met at the last meeting we had gotten the certified
letter. So this is the certified letter from from MSBA saying this is what they project for the size school. So, a standalone school uh with an enrollment to if if this project was to go all the way to the end and it was to be a
standalone school, they project a school that would have a capacity of 355 students. If it was to end up in a consolidated school, they project an enrollment of 670. And yeah, but this is exclusive of the
district's pres. So just understanding that it's exclusive for free. Um and then the next page gets into the mod and this is sort of where I want to have some conversation around um some
discussion because this is sort of what's been out in in um there's been some public conversation around the feasibility study. Um, and I know I've gotten some u emails and I know I believe on the third I'm going to the Yarmouth Select Board to have some conversation around the feasibility
study as well. But um, so I want to sort of make sure everybody just understands a little bit about the feasibility study as defined by MSBA. So the next page brings you to
I just lost it. Um module three module one two three brings you to this overview page on MSBA and which gives you a summary of what um the feasibility uh
process includes. There's a couple things that I want to highlight here is MSBA is the the way they look at the feasibility process is they're looking to to I don't know if this will let me highlight but oh kind of I more than I
wanted to highlight but um that they're looking to determine the feasibility study is looking to determine the most coste effective and educationally appropriate solution um and present it to the MSBA board of directors. So
again, throughout this process, MSBA is a partner and I was thinking about this a little bit last night because I know some of the concerns are uh at least that I've heard spoken to publicly is that you know this is going to sort of
become potentially become like a runaway train. MSBA at 60 roughly 60% reimbursement also isn't interested in building a building that doesn't need to be built. MSBA
isn't interested in building too big of a building that doesn't need to be built. They're also looking for a cost-effective and educationally appropriate solution. And the whole one of the parts of the feasibility study is to look at these things. And you'll see
if you look again this provides some summary. I provided some more detail on the next page but the steps in the feas. Um oh there we go. So if you look at the bullets underneath you know one of the things it's the feasibility study is
meant to look at is the educational program but it's also supposed to look at an initial space summary. um document the existing conditions and then it gets into some of the design pieces that are included. But again, most cost-effective and educationally appropriate preferred
solution is what needs to be presented to the MSBA. And then if we flip um I'm going to lose the the ball here, but the the last
piece which the the feasibility study includes is module four which is the schematic design. So the feasibility study has to not only explore all these options and which will all come back in
front of this group. Then this group has to working again. This is all about partnership with MSBA. between this group making a recommendation and then MSBA accepting a recommendation has to present a schematic design which
is the next module. Module four and a schematic design is module four which is come on on mouse module four
which is a It's not a detailed design. So, it's not like where does every wire hang, where does every pipe run through the building, but it provides enough of a design understanding
that reasonable pricing can be estimated so that we have a general a good understanding of what the cost of the project is going to be because the next phase is to get approval for funding, right? Okay. So,
it has to be detailed enough and this is all part of that 1.5 million that was approved. Right? So, just sort of helping people understand what the whole scope of the next phases. It's all the way through module 4.
I'm going to flip one more page. I know there's a lot here to digest. And then I go back to the feasibility study because I as I mentioned there's a lot of supplemental material. So if I go back to the feasibility study,
there is I don't Yeah, there's a sub I I didn't show what I put on the side. I can't go back now. On the sidebar, there is all the supplemental documents and One of them gives you the
guidelines for the feasibility study and I provided that in the back of the packet and this goes into all sorts of detail on what's included and what has to be included in the feasibility study. And so now I'm on this document that
says that looks like that module three feasibility study. And fortunately these pages are numbered because we're going to flip a couple of pages. I'm going to flip you to page four in this document and I want to point out a couple of things. So on page four it says 3.0 at
the top feasibility study. So I can actually scroll and that's so small nobody's going to be able to read on the screen. See if I can Where's my zoom on this? Let's search.
Oh, thanks. One of these, right? This one. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Look at that. All right. Um, so here this paragraph in particular I wanted to
draw everybody's attention to, right? So it's important for us to make sure that we stick with the MSBA process if we want to get the reimbursement from MSBA.
And I understand like wanting to a move it particular pace. I understand wanting to maybe do all sorts of different things that we may want to do. But if we don't get MSPA approval,
we're not going to be eligible for reimbursement. And I know a lot of things have been discussed. I've gotten emails from people in the public since a discussion happened at the select board me meeting about all sorts of different things that we should consider as part
of the feasibility study. And I'm not saying any of those things shouldn't be part of the conversation. I'm just saying if we don't go through and get approval from MSBA for those things, they will not be eligible for reimbursement, which then will
ultimately cost the taxpayers additional money. Next thing I want to draw our attention to is on page seven. on 3
one. So the top here and now the purpose in case people are worried that we're not going to do some of the things that were discussed. Right? So one of the first steps in a feasibility study is this initial space
summary. Right. So, we're supposed to identify the educational space needs of the district that we believe are needed as well as explore what and develop alternatives to be studied upon which
the most educationally appropriate and cost-ffective solutions are recommended. Right? So part of the feasibility study is to look at what are the space needs and what are the most cost-effective and educationally appropriate ways to meet those space needs. So it is part of the
process to look at all of the options. And then if we flip one more page, page nine or maybe it's two more pages. page n under preliminary evaluation
3.61 and then I get dizzy from looking up and down. There we go. This section here, right? So working with it with this designer um
I don't need to read that to you but essentially what it's saying is this is all about that the this is the preliminary evaluation that provides sufficiently comprehensive scope to initially consider all possible
solutions. Right? So at the beginning of the process, this is this is only page nine of this document which goes for how many pages? How many? 30 pages. Right? So in the
very beginning of the process, it's meant to look at all possible options and then it goes on as you read deeper and deeper into this document. Then it's about okay now as you've considered all of them then you need to narrow it down to what is the best possible solution
and then that's what the designer then moves forward with and that's what the designer then designs the schematic design. So I know there's concerns in the community that it's a foregone conclusion we're just heading down a
path but the train's already out of the station. Trust me, I've gotten emails about it. But the process is the process and the process is designed to make sure the train isn't at the station because the MSBA doesn't
Let's just say for argument sake it is a $50 million school and MSBA is on the hook for roughly 60% of that. That is so $30 million. Thank you. Um MSBA
doesn't want to spend $30 million that it doesn't have to spend either. So they have a very very thorough very thorough and comprehensive process that we have to walk through in order to get.
So that's the end of my diet tribe. Um, but I before we get have an OPM here and before we get to really get an in-depth conversations, I want to put that that discussion on the table about, you know,
everybody's understanding around this. I want to be able to if I need to come back to be able to better answer questions around everyone's understanding of this, I want to be able to have that discussion because there's a lot out that's being discussed right now and I want to make sure that this
committee is having a thorough understanding of the process before um I don't know before we get too far down the tracks and that conversations are happening in different places that aren
happening here at the building. So through the vice chair who's our chair today, um I'll take any discussion questions a question. I was wondering if there is a projected timeline or what part in the
process will the the reimbursement rate be determined? I I know there's various incentives and things that don't come in until we get more information, but that's one question. So, I don't know specifically the
timeline, right? So, the the next step I know is the feasibility study agreement. Um, and then I know that as part of that it'll be working with them on exhibits B and C. and C B and C include um the re
the final reimbursement rate. I think it's C is the final reimbursement rate. Um but I don't I today I can't give you the exact date on which that but it's it's as I understand it it's in the next
um couple of days or the next in this next phase but I know our base as I've mentioned before our base rate is 57 Anybody else? >> I just wondered um the school building
committee is that this body or will there be a subcommittee? Okay. And and I know that we don't have a representative from Dennis, town of Dennis, because it's a Yarmouth project.
Um, unless there were another building considered that is a Yarm a Dennis building. Is that premature to have somebody from Dennis at least online? >> There's no cons. Now,
am I having a different conversation in the town of Dennis about that building? That building has got its own challenges. Yes. But we're not currently having a regionalized elementary school conversation. Any consolidation conversation is
potentially between the two Yarmouth elementary schools. And that B the way the regional agreement is set up, it places it the elementary schools are solely the responsibility of the respective towns
from a capital perspective. So that would be a that would be a separate conversation. The Baker school would be a separate conversation. And if if that school was to end end up at its own MSBA process, that would be a completely separate building committee. Lucky me, I'd be on two separate
building committees um with the town of Dennis and representatives from that town. You know, my my perspective on that too is that the towns because they're responsible for this grade level on their own are generally going to want to
keep their school in their town. So, I don't if you're looking at something like where all three schools become one. I very much doubt it. I'm not sure. >> Just curious about what options are going to be included. So, >> I would say that's not one of them right
now. It is was not part of our uh statement of interest and I have having been a uh educator on on the Cape for a long time, have been an educator in the state of Massachusetts
for 25 years, have being a superintendent who talks to all the other Cape superintendents and talks to superintendents in the western part of the state where um it they have the same challenges except they have mountains versus
beaches. Um the one thing that you can't get a community to do is not have an elementary school. Like there's plenty of regions across the state. What you the thing that the
community will hold on to is its elementary school. So I happen to reside in the NSET region and we have four towns with four elementary schools. Therefore three of those elementary schools have less than 100 kids in them.
Province look to Provintown. Look to Truro. Those are independent school districts with Detroit. The Provintown school district has less than 150s kids. But they're not going to consolidate
that. I mean, I can't say never, but Chattam Elementary, I worked in the Monoy School District. Chattam Elementary School has a really small number of kids, but if you talk about closing the elementary school in that community, the the superintendent in
that district when I worked there, somebody thought he mentioned it and he's still taking the daggers out of his out of his bag. >> Sorry. I also I I I'm thinking that um the MUK project which has reserved very
carefully property that would be townowned property. Do we need to address that at this stage? So, uh, when, uh, Bill Scott was, uh, still working
with the town and running the MUK project, uh, he had had a, he and I had had a conversation because the MUK timeline and I knew, you know, the eligibility period that I had a sense, well, I knew just because you
could look most of the stuff up the MSBA website, I knew then this phase was going to be another long phase. And so you're talking years if we end up with a new building and it's a stand, you know, like I knew like the timeline for the town and the muck property and the school building
project, the two timelines were not the same. And so, uh, our, as a school district, our primary, um, interest in that whole project or
that whole space was just to potentially have somewhere for, uh, space for a potential site for school. So the way uh Bill and I uh came to
I don't know what's the like a a conclusion was I drafted a letter on behalf of the school district requesting the muck to reserve a certain amount of acreage and that is I know as because I happen to have been at a couple meetings when they presented they a couple of
their scenarios hold some acreage uh for a potential school site. And that's important to preserve. Correct. >> Yeah. And I think you know as as we move through this feasibility study and then you get to what would be the best
solution most cost effective educationally um uh most cost effective and educationally sound solution for the district. I think that would then help inform like yes do you still need to hold that or is consolidation or some other solution is
the best solution then that helps inform the muck yes please still hold or no you don't need to hold um you know and then it is yes hold that space and there's going to be a school site there and now that the where the small property currently is is going to become something that's going to be town
property that could be redeveloped in a different way again I don't want to put but those would all be information that um could then um inform that project as well. Uh just a quick question uh related to
uh the feasibility study page 4 section three paragraph two in yeah in the package module three uh page four paragraph two. Um quick
question on the process related to uh you know the uh proposed appropriate solutions non- construction alternatives such as blah blah blah blah blah um as part of the process I assume that this is something that the
OPM once they are appointed would then sort of work with somebody uh some uh educational expertise uh to develop a set of scenarios which would it potentially incorporate all those different op non- construction options as well?
>> Yeah. And and they'll present those to this group, right? So that's so the OPM really becomes um that's a very that is a great analogy.
Thank you. Yes, they become they become the quarterback of this group and they um uh they help drive the process. They help inform us. They help they help present us with everything we need in order to make decisions as
and then we'll as a group will have to then vote on certain decisions. But they'll have prepared us with everything that we needed. Um, is there how do we get community feedback throughout the process? Is that built
into the different systems or is it that they're supposed to come to these meetings or speak with members on the board? How does that how does that happen? >> Yes. So, you know, we'll we'll have public comment as an opportunity. Um and then I have given some thought to other
systems and structures but we haven't built anything specific yet. It's a little early still like we don't have much to need feedback on. Um you know earlier uh like when before the um uh
the requested vote for the funds for the feasibility study we did we put some information out. We had an open house at at uh Emmy Small as a try as an some opportunities to for the to get some feedback and and to answer some
questions from the public. And I imagine as we get further into this process doing similar things andor different things. Um the district has some ways to um survey at large um capacity and analyze at large capacity. So I imagine
leveraging some of those things as well. Um it's just sort of as a group determining what is it that we want to get feedback on. So we have the capacity as a district. We use it internally a lot. We use it with our families and communities a lot. So we it would be easy for us to scale that to the
community. >> Thank you Mr. Vice Chair um Sharon Wymer's here. She's um the chairperson for our ad utilization committee. She handed me a question there. I'm going to try to ask I I um
and and it it deals with um and chair you can correct me if I'm getting this wrong. the enrollment figures and um she's trying to clarify that these enrollment figures include prek numbers.
Um, so that was one question. And if additional space uh as a consequence of growing special needs uh is a factor in determining square footage and how does the you know prek and special needs and
things like that work into that formula for size of school? >> Yes. So um so no preschool isn't included in those numbers. However, the the the conversation that we did have
with MSBA is station avenue. We would the numbers for the K to3 enrollment is slightly larger than what we have for current Emmy small enrollment because it does include a plan to redistrict
Yarmouth and balance the two elementary schools because Station Avenue is overcrowded and Emmy Small has all of our special education programming and all of our preschool programming. So the the plan should should it end up in two
separate schools, should that be the best most economic and educationally sound program that this committee decides, then it would be a school that was uh sized for a slightly larger population and would
include some preschool students um and some of our special education programming. But then we would be able to redistrict in a way that would allow us also to balance across our two schools uh two yard schools. Um and so and then I think what's in that the
other part of that question is we do have substantially separate programming. All of it, all of our Yarmouth programming minus one classroom is at um station A. I mean, excuse me, is at Emmy
Small. Um including our preschool and and our preschool exists only for students who are identified with special needs. Like we don't run a general preschool program. We run an integrated preschool program which means
half the half the students are there because they're identified with special um education needs and the other half the kids are in there our community peers um and so because of the nature of the programming uh for the substantially separate
programming and then the the the regulations around integrated preschool uh you do have fewer kids in those spaces than you might have in a traditional first grade classroom. So
like kids per square foot. Yes, it's fewer kids per square foot. Or yeah, fewer kids per square foot. Yes. Does that answer the question? I say I can't hear the question. Yeah,
>> I'll have her keep feeding me papers. Yeah. >> Well, you know, the other thing I was going to bring up from my experience, too. I mean, the DPW building committee was the site was known, but was like a bunch of puzzle pieces. How was that whole new thing going to fit in with
existing conditions and the building that was still there? We're going to save the building. We're not going to save the building. And then we get to the this building and I think the ignorance of polit lack of local knowledge maybe by the design people had
them throw a whole bunch of stuff at us and I think that's going to happen this time too. So the people get way ahead of themselves that we're all we've made up our mind. This is what we're going to do. We're not going to do but I can tell you from experience at this committee or the last committee they put a whole
bunch of stuff forward and it's like oh look this satellite picture. Look at that big area with nothing on it. Well, yeah, that's conservation. That's Wellfield. And you just have to take this whole thing and you whittle it down. And that's the same thing I think about how big the school is going to be
and where it's going to be and how it's going to be used, which again is up to the district. Um, because obviously they're the experts on education. Um, and go from there. I think the next one of the questions that's going to have to be answered at some point is
if MSBA doesn't participate in preK, what's the financial burden and how much does that change size of school which can determine what goes where, right? What's going to fit in a particular piece of property? So, and again, I think if you all hang in there, and I know it's going to take
months and months and months, we'll get to start answering all these questions that people are asking that we just don't have the answers to right now. That's a technical question that uh prek is out of scope as it relates to the MSBA. >> I know they don't include it in the
enrollment. I'm not yet clear on the where it fits into the reimbursement that I get. Uh, Carol Mah on one of the MSBA meetings, they told us it could be included in the building, but they
didn't pay for fixtures for furniture. >> But then the desks are small. >> There's no desk. >> They're they're already 60% smaller, right? though I also believe in the regular if that's the right word regular enroll in I believe there's a f I think that's
include a percentage in the you're jelling the budget anyways so doing that on a smaller scale for the prek is probably not a big number just curious the um OPM on this building is still busy. So when we get the list of OPMs, that person will be
unavailable, I guess. Huh. >> Uh they're a big enough group that they manage multiple projects. So they're currently on multiple and I I probably would be violating some type of a law if I showed any preference
one way or the other. So I will stay away from commenting in anyway. Unless somebody has any other questions. Nobody's just >> Okay, that's easy. Um I guess we're down to minutes of 11:20. Anybody want to move that?
>> Make motion to uh approve the minutes as posted in the packet. Second. Nate seconds it. Any uh any corrections? Anybody? No. All those in favor? >> I I Okay, that's easy. Um I already
asked for public comment, but I'll give you one more chance, Sharon. >> Okay. Uh anybody care to move to adjourn? >> Well, Mr. Chairman, can I ask a quick question? >> Nope. Sorry. you have a chance.
>> Okay. Um, so given that the MSBA is not meeting until February 25th, is there a reason for us to meet on February 12th? >> Uh, that's a good question. Um, the only thing would be I'd maybe be able to provide you with a I could provide the
I'm anticipating by then I would have a a draft of feasibility study agreement for the committee to review um and maybe some comments from our legal council if that's something the board wants to see um if or the committee rather. If
not, then I don't anticipate much more happening other than that. Uh, but I will have to have executed, as I understand it, I will have to have executed that before the 25th
because it's part of getting invited into the next phase. So, and I don't know the time. So, it really would be that would be the and then maybe I would have to Mr. Written's um question. I may have some
of the other like exhibit B or exhibit C information, but I don't know. I could I could also >> That's fine. I just I just wanted to bring it up. I mean, what you just described makes sense to have a meeting of some kind on the 12th. And maybe it won't be the longest meeting we're ever going to have. In fact, I know it won't
be. Right. >> Um, >> but I just wanted to clarify. Yeah. Um, because I don't know about you, but I do not wake up every day thinking about how I can go to more meetings. >> So, I just wanted to at least have the discussion. And I'm not accusing anybody of doing that in this room, but I just
wanted to at least have a discussion. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm looking for more nights out. >> Yeah, it's just not here. Thank you. Thank you.