Burlington Public Schools Capital Plan Draft Presented

Burlington Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Eric Conti and Operations Director, Bob Cunha, introduced a 20-year facilities plan to the School Committee at their July 23 meeting. The goal is to put to paper the anticipated needs of the School District and prevent capital needs from sneaking up on the town.

The plan lays out items that can be projected out, such as school replacements, large facilities projects, field maintenance and replacement, and other large capital needs. Championed in part by School Committee member, Jeremy Brooks, this plan will be informed by the various master plans that have come out of School and Recreation Department facilities studies.

Feedback from the rest of the School Committee was favorable, but some questions and suggestions came up, including the specific timing of the high school project (it seems to fall later in the 20-year plan than the current state of the feasibility study might suggest), attaching dollar amounts and priorities to each of the items, and working in conjunction with the town's finance committee. Citing the contentious middle school fields article that came up at May's Town Meeting and felt "sprung on" the Ways and means Committee, Chair Christine Monaco said, "The way this town works is for us to work with them to get these things done."

Mr. Cunha emphasized that this will be a living document, intended to create a process by which all the master plans and capital plans are integrated; Dr. Conti said the process is designed "to make sure that we are trying to project our future capital needs as clearly and transparently as possible." He also referenced the schools' current process with planned replacement cycles for technology, saying, "Some of [the capital needs are] somewhat predictable and we already have that practice in other areas."

Dr. Conti and Mr. Cunha plan to continue work on the Burlington Public Schools Capital Plan on an ongoing basis.

Also at School Committee:

• The makeup of the Middle School Field Committee is nearly finalized. It consists of sports leaders, community members, neighbors, and Town Meeting members.
• The "Memoranda of Agreement," otherwise known as the union contracts, were ratified. Along with this comes the commitment to establish an elementary school schedule committee to modernize and streamline the elementary school day.
• Burlington Buzz introduced ourselves into the record, and presented our partnership with VoteLight.
• Burlington High School Technology teacher, Shereen Tyrell, will be taking on a full-time role interfacing with tech businesses and expanding STEM programming, internships, and more for BHS students. This will be funded from the district's revolving fund, but she'll also be looking into opportunities to fund her role and future support roles via grants.
• Warrant articles from May Town Meeting are being fulfilled, including work on the Pine Glen roof and soffits, carpet installation at the central office, bathroom renovations at the middle school, and more.
• There is a new transportation company and a new tracking software per the district's contract, but the software won't likely be operational until October. The bus company has the same parent as the previous one, and the district will maintain many of the same drivers. Around 285 families have opted out of transportation, though a survey sent by the district said that if families changed their minds, or if circumstances changed, they would be able to opt back in. Mr. Cunha aims to have the preliminary routes posted on the website by August 21.

The School Committee next meets on August 20.