The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) committee met Monday night in the Performing Arts Center for the fiscal year 2017 (FY17) budget hearing. After the hearing, interim Principal Peg Regan gave a presentation on the state of the school facilities, including the results from $150,000 worth of studies conducted on the building over the past year.
Overall, the FY17 assessed expenses for the Island towns are up 2.41 percent, or $386,674, from FY16. The largest budget increase came from the instruction portion under the high school programs, with a $97,785 increase. Ms. Regan said that’s mostly due to salary step increases. The largest drop was the operation and maintenance of plant portion under the superintendent’s and shared services programs, with a $102,610 decrease. Ms. Regan said the decrease is due to the turnover of custodial staff and new hires being paid lower salaries than those previously higher up on the pay scale.
“Things are fairly stable across the budget lines,” she said. “Instruction has gone up the most because of raises and steps, but the total has not skyrocketed over the past three years.”
Despite the slight upward trend of expenses, up $73,600 from FY16, revenues are down slightly. The total annual revenue reduction over the past 7 years is down $1.5 million, largely due to a reduction in state aid.
Several members of the somewhat substantial public audience voiced concerns over the proposed elimination of administrative positions, including the second assistant principal position and the movement of the high school special education director position from administrative to instruction. Both changes were made in order to reduce the amount of administrative costs created over the past seven years, Ms. Regan said.
“Between 2008 and 2012, we went to $1.75 million in administrators at the high school, not including shared costs for the superintendent and assistant superintendent,” she said. “One of the things I’ve been looking at this year is the amount of onsite administrative budget that we have, and moving that more into teaching and instruction, rather than at the administrative level.”
She said since she was last principal, there’s been a significant addition of redundant administrative costs.
“It seems to me that if we’re trying to attract a new principal, it’s not the time to eliminate any positions, let alone an administrative position,” Island resident Bill Engler said from the audience. “Because you cut off his or her legs before they’ve started.”
“The priority is to make sure all the students get their needs met,” Superintendent of Schools Matt D’Andrea said. “We’re looking at doing things better, doing things more efficiently, but making sure that students’ needs are met.”
He said they are eliminating the assistant principal position and looking at restructuring things so that the assistant superintendent absorbs some of the superintendent-like tasks of the principalship.
“There’s not a reason, and I did not find this when I was here before, for me to be here all day, and at meetings all night long,” Ms. Regan said. “It’s not really an effective use of the principal’s time.”
State of the facility
Following the budget hearing, Ms. Regan segued into a presentation on the state of the facilities, and the costs of the necessary repairs.
BLW Engineering reported on the school’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, and said, “The majority, if not all, of the HVAC equipment in the building has exceeded its expected operational life, is in various states of disrepair, and is in need of replacement.” A complete replacement would come at a cost of $4.2 million, plus an additional $600,000 for air conditioning.
Recommendations by Russo Barr Assoc. on the building envelope included window replacements at a cost of $2.3 million, exterior wall repairs at a cost of $505,375, and door repairs at a cost of $135,330. Issues included damaged bricks, chipped and peeling paint on window frames and trim, failed sealant joints between windows and wood trim, extensively damaged ceiling tiles, cloudy and fading door glazing, missing or broken windows, and rusting exterior frames and doors.
In the horticulture area, Ms. Regan presented pictures of a crumbling greenhouse wall and the door to the horticulture heating system in major disrepair. School district facilities manager Mike Taus said that there are whole walls that need to be repaired because they are rotted.
A study done on the outdoor track reported necessary track surfacing, drainage and irrigation, and Americans for Disabilities Act compliance measures at costs of approximately $850,000, $225,00, and $165,000. The presentation showed pictures of a broken shot put ring and a broken enclosure on the long jump sand pit.
“This is the minimal amount to repair the track,” Ms. Regan said. “The company had many, many more improvements, but this was basically enough to make it safe for the students to run.” There is about $280,000 budgeted to go toward track improvements, which was appropriated by the towns last year.
Jay Litman of Fielding Nair International and school librarian Kevin McGrath gave a presentation on transforming the school library into an interdisciplinary and collaborative Global Learning Commons at an approximate cost of $2.4 million.
“This is an amazing library, and is used by hundreds of kids and teachers all day long,” Ms. Regan said. She said the area could become the center of the school.
Finally, Ms. Regan presented pictures of the superintendent’s office-space needs. The office is currently housed in an old church. Some offices are in closets, and one is in an attic. She recommended that the superintendent’s office be incorporated into the larger MVRHS project, so the superintendent and assistant superintendent can be more readily accessible at the school.
It’s been 20 years since the last $18.2 million renovation to the school, which was originally opened in 1959.
“We have a lot of different designs, a lot of different studies, a lot of different results and costs, and we need to decide how we want to approach all of that,” Ms. Regan said. “We know we have to work hard to keep this facility running and worthy of the kids that come here, and that’s our challenge going forward.”
The school committee will vote on the final draft of the FY17 budget at a meeting on Monday, Dec. 7. Another presentation on the building studies will be given on Thursday, Jan. 7, at 7 pm in the Performing Arts Center.