Dave’s Photo Blog

Hilary Rappaport looks on through the window of the conference room, which is standing-room only, as Tim Cahill, the Chairperson of the Massachusetts School Building Authority Board of Directors, speaks. A few minutes later, she is able to get in the room to see the board vote to approve moving the Thompson Elementary School Statement of Interest (SOI) to the feasibility stage. While that doesn’t guarantee that the school will be rebuilt, it is a very important step forward in the process. If you couldn’t attend this important meeting, read on for a full summary and pictures.

When it was confirmed that the Thompson School was on the MSBA agenda, the clear signal was that approval for the feasibility stage was forthcoming. These board meetings are public affairs and clearly not intended to be controversial. This meeting was somewhat unusual in that there were a very large number of projects to be voted on – 27 in all. The votes were for final audits, model schools, project budgets and scope, feasibility and repairs. As such, there were a large number of people in the audience of the modest conference room used for the meeting.

There was a tremendous presence from Arlington city and school officials, state officeholders and parents, including:

• Clarissa Rowe, Chairperson of the Arlington Board of Selectmen
• Kathleen Bodie, Interim Superintendent of Schools
• Sheri Donovan, Principal of the Thompson Elementary School
• Ken Donnelly, State Senator
• Cindy Friedman, Chief of Staff for Ken Donnelly
• Jeff Thielman, School Committee member
• Sean Garballey, State Representative and former Thompson School student
• Jack Hurd, Selectman
• Brian Sullivan, Town Manager
• Cindy Starks, School Committee Candidate
• Bill Shea, Arlington Permanent Town Building Committee
• Evelyne Delori, Co-Chair of the Thompson Rebuild-Equity Coalition
• Tom Robertson, Town Meeting Member and Co-Chair of the Thompson Rebuild-Equity Coalition

Meg Moloney and Hilary Rapaport, who made impassioned speeches recently before the Arlington School Committee were also there as was Meg’s husband Tim and many other parents. There were also several members of the Thompson Rebuild-Equity Coalition (TREC). This organization was formerly known as the Thompson Rebuild-Equity Task Force – they announced a new name a few days ago. By their count, there were 17 parents in the audience, including one parent from the Brackett Elementary School. In all, there were far more people from Arlington in the audience than from any other school district. Please note there may well have been other officials there – these were the ones I was able to identify.

While there were a few situations that required more in-depth explanations, most of the school projects that were voted on did not require much discussion. Those that did, such as complicated issues around the Somerset Berkley Regional High School, were addressed by either Katherine Craven or Tim Cahill.

Katherine Craven

Tim Cahill

Before we get into the discussion at the vote, however, I think it’s interesting to review what the MSBA’s assessment of the Thompson School was. The following is a summary of the information provided to the Board about the Thompson School.

Recommendation

That the Statement of Interest (SOI) for the Thompson Elementary School located in the town of Arlington be moved from the Planning to the Feasibility Study category to study potential solutions to programmatic deficiencies and aging systems at the facility.

Background

The Town of Arlington submitted SOIs for three of its ten schools, the Arlington High School, M. Norcross Stratton Elementary School and Thompson Elementary School, the priority school. The Thompson Elementary School is a two-story building with a partial basement and is approximately 55,861 square feet in size. It was originally constructed in 1955, and currently accommodates 321 students. The site is a flat open parcel of land approximately 3.1 acres, adjacent to a municipal playground in a residential section of East Arlington. Although small for the purpose, the site has been the location of an active elementary school since 1955.

The MSBA conducted a Senior Study of the Thompson Elementary School on February 25, 2009. Areas of concern include the exterior windows, entrance system, finishes, HVAC, as well as plumbing and electrical systems that are substantially original and have exceeded their expected service life without having been upgraded. The roofing systems are reported to be in partial failure, with resulting leakage and deterioration of decking and ceilings in a few locations. Glazing replacement work has been spotty, and of poor quality, rendering adverse appearance conditions. Asbestos remediation, investigation and removal action are likely needed. Lighting systems were partially upgraded but poorly done. Energy conservation qualities are generally unfavorable with some basement level water entry conditions reported.

The Thompson Elementary School was originally placed in the Planning category and based on the MSBA’s recent site visit and work with the District, staff now recommend that the school be placed in the Feasibility Study category to further study the solution to the identified problems.

After a brief summary (the information above was not reviewed in the meeting), Katherine Craven spoke about the vote for the Thompson School. She noted that Clarissa Rowe and Sheri Donovan were in attendance in addition to a large number of people from the community. This spoke to their, “level of passion,” and how the Thompson is a, “beloved school of the district.” She went on to say that she had visited recently and it was, “very apparent what the deficiencies are” in the school. She continued that she is, “thrilled to be working with Arlington.” And as to the overall outlook for the school, she said, “we’ll see, but this is a major step forward.”

The vote was conducted and passed, which led to a round of applause from the audience. I should note that there was no other vote that elicited that kind of response. In most other cases, a few officials would say thank you and then exit. After the Thompson School vote, the audience applauded and the meeting was basically suspended for several minutes while members of the community drifted out, congratulating each other and thanking the board. I’m told Tim Cahill was overheard saying, “Oh wow, there were a lot of Arlington parents here.” Then Clarissa Rowe approached Tim, who stood to greet her. They shook hands, both looking very happy at the result of this vote.

And there was one other dynamic of the this meeting that I should call out – the presence of two very informed members – Mary Grassa O’Neill and Terry Kwan. While much of the business of the MSBA revolves around money and financial issues, these two women clearly had the complete respect of the board as they are both educators. At one point in the meeting, there was a discussion about the size of a school, how cost increases with size and how enrollment has to be ensured. Terry made some strong statements about the issue, saying that the Board must consider the educational benefit of the school size as well as cost. Her point was that a smaller school is not able to offer the same level of programs as a larger school, and when the issue is about the expense of choosing the larger over the smaller, the richness of the education as it relates to the size of the school must be factored in along with the budget. Overall, the participation of O’Neill and Kwan completed a picture of competence in the MSBA that was both refreshing and encouraging. The challenge of the Thompson School community is now to continue to advocate for the school through the feasibility phase to ensure that repairs or renovations are made as soon as possible.

Note: I would like to extend my thanks to Carrie Sullivan, the Press Secretary for the MSBA, for helping me to get permission from Tim Cahill and Katherine Craven to photograph the meeting.

Update 1: Thanks to Tom Robertson for forwarding the members of the Arlington community and state government – I have amended the article to reflect the participation of those individuals.

Update 2: I just became aware that Sean Garballey actually attended the Thompson Elementary School back in the day, and have amended the article to point that out.

Update 3: H/T to to Jane Connor for reminding me of Tim’s exclamation about how many Arlington parents were in attendance.