The Tisbury School Building Committee met Tuesday evening in a joint session with Tisbury’s select board, finance committee, school committee, and PTO to review concepts for a remodeled school and associated costs. The price tag for the school, not including the cost of installing solar panels, and only partially including the relocation of the student body and faculty, is estimated at $53.2 million. Despite the figure, reactions to a presentation by architect Chris Blessen, project manager Richard Marks, and architect and educational planner David Stephen were overwhelmingly positive.
Looming over the meeting was the unresolved problem of where to relocate students during what was projected to be two years of work on the school — an issue some building committee members framed Monday night as a potential political crisis in the making if not managed correctly. As a possible solution, select board Jim Rogers announced Tisbury was actively investigating acquisition of the EduComp building on State Road as of “two or three weeks ago.”
While no agreement has yet been made to buy the building, Rogers said between the building itself and modular classroom space to be had in Veterans Memorial Park behind it, class space sufficient to teach all Tisbury School students was conceivable. A bonus, he noted, is there would be additional value to such an investment, because the EduComp building could later be used for the next Tisbury Town Hall. Rogers, who is also a member of the building committee, called the idea a “win-win” opportunity.
Details were scant on what the town’s prospects were for successfully acquiring the building, and what it might cost to do so. Rogers said he authorized town administrator Jay Grande to “pursue some information” on the building and see if there was a deal to be made. He said the select board has yet to collectively deliberate on the idea, but he’s “sure” Grande has kept the other two members apprised.
The building is assessed at $1,618,400, according to a Tisbury assessor’s card.
Select board member Jeff Kristal said building committee member Rita Jeffers deserves credit for cluing in town officials to the potential of the EduComp building. “She’s a fantastic out-of-the-box thinker,” he said.
Jeffers, a kindergarten teacher at the Tisbury School, said the idea of staff and students potentially being separated during the school project kept her up at night.
“It was a really hard thing to do last time, it’s hard to do right now — to have to do it for long term, another two, three years, is really where my idea came from,” she said. “But quite honestly, the reason why I was even thinking about it was that Chis Blessen and Tappé (the project architect) have brought us a really incredible project. I was someone who was a little skeptical about what a renovation-addition would bring, and they have literally brought oxygen back into our lungs at the Tisbury School. This is a project that is exciting. It is inspiring. It’s going to serve people from now long into the future. There were some tradeoffs because it’s a renovation-addition, but in the end, this is a project that I’m really proud to be a part of. And if we can make this happen from the town of Tisbury, I think it’s going to bring a lot of pride … and I think if we can reassure the parents that we are going to be together and supporting each other through the renovation-addition, it’ll be quite a celebration when we get to be back together at the Tisbury School.”
“This project is a lot more expensive than the last one,” Kristal said. “We don’t have $14 million of state aid.” Nevertheless, he said, the town needs to move forward with the project. He said he saw great promise in folding the EduComp building into the project.
Select board member Larry Gomez said it was imperative to keep other offers at bay so the town can negotiate with the owner. “Calls have been placed,” Kristal said.
Finance committee member Sarah York described the EduComp building as a “fantastic idea,” but wanted to know if other plans were in the works in case the building falls through.
“We were already looking at Veterans Park to build a temporary school,” Rogers said.
Siobhan Mullin, president of the PTO, expressed gratitude to the building committee on behalf of parents, for the “endless hours” they put into guiding the design. She said the project itself “looks really promising.” She added, “Now we have something concrete to show our parents. I look forward to having them enthusiastically support it.”
“All I want to say is we have a long road ahead of us still,” Gomez said, “to convince 22 people who didn’t vote for this the last time that this is a good thing to do. And I was sorry our select board in the past did not support this, or we would be three years into this building project. We have a lot of convincing to do to a lot of our taxpayers that this is what they need, that this is what they should have for their children.”
“I care very deeply about the Tisbury School,” Principal John Custer said. “And for the past 10 years or so, I’ve been sincerely invested in efforts to try to improve the facility for our students and for our community.”
Custer, a building committee member and former student at the Tisbury School, went on to say the design supports the educational needs of Tisbury’s students, and he endorses the project. He said hopes there will be no delay in pursuing it.
“I do worry about delaying and waiting for a ‘perfect project,’ because it will cost our community in more than just dollars and time,” Custer said. “Waiting will cost kids in ways that can’t be easily measured. It will negatively impact education. I believe now is the time for our community to make that long-term investment and to improve our school, and this project does that.”