Although several building-repair studies conducted by the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) administration were not yet ready for review, school committee members who met on Thursday, June 25, agreed money must be budgeted to address the results of those studies moving forward.
Small projects include exterior shingling and retiling parts of the building, as well as larger projects to address the deficient HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system, hot water supply, and deteriorating building envelope, including windows and doors. The biggest point of discussion was whether to allot money from the excess and deficiencies fund toward fiscal year 2016 building-project funding.
“We know that there are great needs here,” MVRHS Finance Manager Mark Friedman said. “We know the HVAC system alone, just the needs to get the system operating efficiently and effectively, could be about three-quarters of a million dollars. While we’re not in a position to go and tackle that project entirely at this point, we know that we need to start identifying resources to address it.”
He said the administration was hoping to gain the support of the committee to put excess and deficiencies (E and D) funds toward a facilities-improvement fund in the capital budget in order to address the repair needs they see coming.
“It would help us to redirect where we want to put our funds in terms of addressing the priorities as they come forward,” MVRHS Principal Gil Traverso said. “That’s why we want this to be a living document, and in the years that we have some excess funds, we want to make sure that we’re able to set something aside, so we’re not coming back to the school committee meeting and saying, ‘Hey, the HVAC issue in the short term is three-quarters of a million dollars’ — we want to have something to offset that cost.”
Committee Chairman Lisa Reagan of Oak Bluffs said there is no question the high school needs “lots and lots of work.” The question is how to address those needs in the short and long term, she said. “I don’t want to just frivolously spend money, but I see the value of taking money from E and D because we happen to have a year when we have an excess amount of this money — we’re lucky enough to have it — and put it toward the right way of doing business and getting this building in shape,” Ms. Reagan said.
She said that waiting until the committee receives the results of the studies conducted by the engineers and architects before spending money was a thoughtful way to proceed.
“I think the capital plan is a good one; however, I think how it is being financed is terrible,” committee member Jeffrey “Skip” Manter of West Tisbury said. “I think it is terrible to allow E and D to finance projects of this magnitude. All of a sudden you don’t have E and D one year, and then there’s a domino effect over what you are trying to do. I don’t believe E and D was ever established to be spending this type of money on these types of projects.”
Mr. Manter said the utilization of the excess and deficiencies funds necessitated more input from the towns. He also expressed concern that utilizing E and D funds for building repairs could result in the funds being rediverted if something else requiring the money were to come up, and the repairs could continue to be pushed off.
After a rigorous back-and-forth between all the members, the committee agreed to appropriate $519,451 in E and D funds toward a facilities-improvement fund. Many members acknowledged the overarching necessity for repairs to the school and the time limitation for doing so.
New projects discussed included a track renovation, new building maintenance equipment for the custodial staff, a media center for the library, IT wireless expansion, a new sand spreader, and new field-line painting equipment.
In the expenditure and revenue report, Mr. Friedman said that overall the expenses were on target. Substitute vacancies being filled, tutoring expenses, athletics, maintenance items, and charter school transfers were the greatest contributors to deficits. He requested the committee approve the transfer of $624,960 from surplus areas to the areas of deficit in order to address the balances. The transfer was approved by the committee.
The committee approved a motion to relieve a $13,267 deficit in the cafeteria revolving fund via a transfer from the general fund as mandated by the state. The deficit is the result of a structural financial issue with the cafeteria revolving fund, which took place when the up-Island regional school district separated from the program that MVRHS was helping them with about three to four years ago, according to Mr. Friedman.
“We’ll be working with Chartwells and some other people within the school in order to be able to come up with strategies to help address it and drive that down as low as we can,” he said about the deficit. “We’re competing with the priority of ensuring that students are fed and that they perform well in school, and on the other side we’re also trying to keep the prices of the meals down and affordable, but in between those two areas we have some more work to do.”
In other business, the committee appointed Mr. Manter and Robert Lionette of Chilmark to the newly formed facilities and educational-needs committee to look at the results of the building studies closely over the summer and begin to come up with a plan to address the needs of the building and academic departments. Mr. Traverso presented Superintendent James Weiss with a retirement gift for his dedication to the school committee for 10 years.
The next school committee meeting is scheduled in September. In the meantime, the facilities and educational-needs committee will continue to meet.