Westport in Brief!
EverythingWestport.com
Saturday, July 23, 2016
photos/EverythingWestport.com except as
noted
Westport Cultural Council will
host its 5th annual 2016 Film Series at the Shattuck.
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23 proposed options for a
Junior/Senior High School gleaned down to four that will be submitted to Massachusetts
School Building Authority. EverythingWestport.com Thursday,
June 23, 2016
Special Correspondent to
EverythingWestport.com WESTPORT
– Two town boards voted unanimously on Wednesday, July 20th to send four
feasibility studies for a new school building to the Massachusetts School
Building Authority (MSBA) for review and
consideration of financial aid for an approved construction plan. The studies
will be further developed over the next few weeks in preparation for filing
with the MSBA by the end of September. Selectmen
and the Westport School Committee met with the town’s School Building
Committee in joint session at Westport High School to review what the
building committee determined to be the best options out of 23 concept plans
considered over the last few weeks. The
School Building Committee had previously voted to recommend the four options;
they were not represented by a quorum at the Wednesday meeting. Two of
the endorsed concept plans going to the state authority call for new
construction at the site of the closed middle school, and the other two
propose renovations and additions to Westport High School, or the
construction of a new facility behind the current building. Preliminary
cost projections indicated that the construction of a new 91,405 square foot
building at the middle school site to house grades five through eight as the
cheapest option for the town to consider. The tentative price tag is $52
million, including $8.5 to demolish the existing vacant building and dispose
of the hazardous materials known to be there. It was
estimated that the MSBA might reimburse the town
for $23 million of the $52 million projected cost, with bonding of the
remaining $29 million to go before voters for consideration. The
middle school was permanently closed at the start of the 2015-2016 school year, with the district shifting some students to three
other school buildings, and adding modular classrooms to the Macomber School campus. For more than four years, the
school district had been pursuing mandated remediation measures after the
discovery of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in different parts of the
building. During
the last round of testing at the closed school, all rooms and areas tested
were well below the Environmental Protection Agency contaminant limits for
children ages 6 through 12, but the school board still decided to abandon the
building and turn it back to the town. At the same time, consideration of
constructing a new school building began in earnest. The
second option for the former middle school site is an $87 million project
that would build a 173,720 square foot combined junior and senior high school
for grades five to 12. That estimate also includes the $8.5 million in
demolition and disposal costs for the abandoned building. That
option would likely get about $38 million in MSBA
aid, with the $49 million balance to be funded entirely by the town. Both
of the first two options don’t “solve the problem of correcting the
deficiencies of the current high school,” noted consulting architect Jonathan
Levi. Built in 1949, the high school has “reached the end of its useful life”
and a replacement structure or major renovations should be considered within
the next decade, he suggested. A
combined renovation and expansion effort at the high school, creating 188,800
square feet of space that could accommodate grades five through 12 came with
a price tag of $84 million. That plan would probably generate about $37.5
million in MSBA reimbursements, with $46.5 million
left to be funded by the town. That
option includes retaining both the existing WHS
auditorium and gymnasium, to be connected to a new U-shaped academic wing
built directly behind the existing structure, which would be demolished after
the new construction is completed. It would be too difficult and too
expensive to renovate the old classrooms and labs to meet current standards,
Levi suggested. The
fourth option on the table for MSBA consideration
is the construction of a completely new combined junior and senior high
school building behind the existing structure, with a projected cost of $78
million for the 173,270 square foot building. That option is likely to net
about $35.5 million in state aid, leaving $42.5 million for taxpayers to
approve borrowing for. Both
of the plans involving new construction on the high school campus site would
still leave the town with the problem of financing the $8.5 million in demolition
and disposal costs for removing the old middle school so that the space could
be used for other municipal purposes. Several
of the other options for a new school considered the use of the nearby
town-owned Santos Farm, being developed for recreational use by town youth
athletic organizations. Wetlands issues and the topography of the farm site
led the building committee to eliminate the property from further
consideration, Levi indicated. Gutting
the middle school and completely renovating the facility for re-use was also
dropped from consideration, based on a $52 million estimate to completely
remediate the hazardous materials in the building and on the grounds, the
architect said. Each
of the four preferred options for a new building will be further developed
with traffic issues, water and septic needs, and other site considerations
added to the feasibility plans sent to the MSBA.
The building committee, project manager and architect will likely meet with
selectmen and the school board again in mid-September to review those further
developed “schematic reports,” said owner’s project manager Daniel Tavares. The
preferred schematic plans have to be submitted to the MSBA
by Sept. 29 for consideration at the authority’s November meeting, Tavares
indicated. The authority’s review and feedback may result in further changes
being made to one or more option plans. Building
Committee co-chair Diane Baron said her committee would like to meet with the
traffic consultant working on the project to discuss how traffic data and
safety issues might impact the final plan that is developed. Selectmen
had lots of questions for the architect and project manager, but eventually
voted 5-0 to support the submission of the best option concepts to the MSBA. “This is pretty impressive,” Selectman Tony Vieira
said of the feasibility study package before the vote was taken. He
also cautioned officials and cable television viewers watching the meeting at
home that the cost estimates were only preliminary, and were likely to change
before a single best option was developed and presented to voters. Selectman
Craig Dutra said the four best options chosen by the building committee “make
sense” to develop further with the help of the MSBA. Board
of Selectman Chairman R. Michael Sullivan asked Superintendent Ann-Marie Dargon why a possible regionalized school district with a
neighboring town had been dropped from consideration as a solution to school
space issues. “The MSBA never asked us to present this option,” Dargon explained. Dargon said
that “regionalization with another district would be a long, complicated
process that would take us several more years” to complete. If the four
option being submitted to the MSBA encounter resistance
at the state level, “we would reconsider regionalization as an alternative,” Dargon said. Sending
high schoolers to neighboring Dartmouth as tuition students was rejected
because Dartmouth High School doesn’t have enough space to accommodate all of
Westport’s senior high population, Dargon
noted. Westport
Cultural Council will host its 5th annual 2016 Film Series at the Shattuck. Three
documentary films will highlight the theme “Masters Of Their Craft”. EverythingWestport.com Saturday, July 23, 2016 The
Westport Cultural Council will host its fifth annual
film series on three consecutive Wednesdays this summer - August 10th, 17th,
and 24th at 7:00 p.m. The film series is free and open to the public. It is
made possible through a grant from the Helen E. Ellis Charitable Trust and
will be held at the Dedee Shattuck Gallery, 1
Partners Lane, Westport, MA. This year, the Council will present three documentary films
highlighting the theme “Masters Of Their Craft”. Each
film will be introduced by a guest speaker, with a question and answer period
to follow. Wednesday
August 10, 2015. The first film, “Corita” is about the life and work of Corita Kent, a former nun who became an artist, Our guest speaker will be Eva Payne, a PhD Candidate in American
Studies at Harvard University. She was a curatorial intern for Harvard Art
Museum's exhibition on Corita Kent and the Language
of Pop, and curated an exhibition of Kent's papers at the Schlesinger
Library. Wednesday
August 17, 2015. “First Position” is a
documentary that that follows six young dancers from around the world and
their arduous efforts to prepare for the Youth American Grand Prix, an annual
competition for dancers ages 9-19 held in New York City judged by
representatives from more than thirty major dance companies and academies.
The stakes are high, with success measured in securing big career
opportunities including scholarships and professional contracts. But the odds
are daunting as well: only 300 out of some 5,000 hopefuls from around the
globe make it to the big event. Our Guest Speaker is Nicole Guinard, founder
of En L’Air School of
Dance Westport, MA. Nicole has trained since the age of seven starting with
the McKeon School of Dance & Gymnastics, competing regularly and becoming
back-to-back national champion at NAPS and was awarded Best Interpretation of
Choreography for her lyrical solo performance. Her education continued with
the Patti Eisenhauer Dance Center and Festival
Ballet Providence. She regularly adjudicates dance and talent competitions
and teaches Master Classes throughout New England and offers children classes
in all styles of dance with an emphasis on artistry, showmanship, and strong
technique. Wednesday
August 26, 2015. "Man On Wire"
has been coined by many as ‘the artistic crime of the century’, the illegal walk between New York’s twin towers
was a wonder to behold. Man On Wire recounts the fascinating story of
how Philippe Petit and his friends planned and engineered the death defying
act of Petit’s walk on a wire suspended between the
top of the twin towers in New York on a day in August 1974 without anyone
knowing it was going to happen! What took place was the result of years
of preparation by Petit with the support of his friends, each of whom offer
their insights in the making of this incredible documentary that attests to
the unfaltering determination of fulfilling one’s dream. This film will be introduced by a member of the Westport Cultural
Council. Click here for their poster of all summer events including
Masters of the Craft. © 2016 Community Events of
Westport. All rights reserved. EverythingWestport.com |
