Aquinnah Town Meeting approved both the amended Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) regional agreement and a $2 million feasibility study for the school building’s renovation or reconstruction, making it the final town meeting on the Island to give its blessing.
The vote took place during a swift Aquinnah Special Town Meeting on Wednesday, April 26, at the Aquinnah Town Hall.
Both the amended agreement and feasibility study need approval from every Martha’s Vineyard town for the school project to be part of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) program. The state would pay for 38 percent of the renovation or rebuild through the MSBA program.
Funding for the feasibility study still needs approval at the polls in Tisbury and Aquinnah.
The regional agreement hasn’t been updated since 1954, according to Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools Business Administrator Mark Friedman
At town meeting in Aquinnah on Wednesday, Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools Superintendent Richie Smith emphasized that the two articles were a separate vote from the high school budget, which has been a controversial topic across the Island for weeks now as voters share their frustrations over an ongoing lawsuit.
“I know there’s been some news in the media about our annual town meetings preceding this special town meeting here,” Smith said. “There’s been a movement … in three of the towns to zero out the assessment for the high school operating budget.”
Those motions were made in West Tisbury, Chilmark, and Tisbury as a response to the field lawsuit between the high school and the Oak Bluffs planning board. Both West Tisbury and Chilmark voted to reduce their share of the school’s budget to zero, while Tisbury took an alternate route.
“I know that motion may be made on May 9 at the [Aquinnah] annual town meeting, but in the interest of transparency and clarity, I wanted to say what [MVRHS special projects coordinator Sam Hart] has presented here is a separate warrant article, that is for this onetime capital project, which is the potential high school building project,” Smith said.
The feasibility study article was a request to borrow up to $2 million, the cost of which will be shared by the towns. Although some clarifying questions were asked, voters did not vocally oppose either warrant article. The amended regional agreement passed with a 59-4 vote. Meanwhile, the feasibility study request passed with a 55-7 vote.
MVRHS Principal Sara Dingledy told The Times on Thursday that the “clean sweep” of support at the town meetings was heartening to hear.
“We’re thrilled that it was a resounding round of support,” she said, adding that this “huge Island undertaking” and its warrant articles were a culmination of seven years of work applying for the MSBA program.
Smith told The Times this was possible because the towns were on board with the study, starting with the high school funding formula working group.
“This go-around was very much the work of the schools and the towns, and that’s why it went through,” Smith said, adding they are holding their excitement until a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion is passed at the remaining town elections for the feasibility study. It was most recently approved at the Chilmark polls.
Meanwhile, two warrant articles were indefinitely postponed at Aquinnah Town Meeting. One proposed exempting certain auxiliary apartments from rental limitations; the other proposed exempting some town-owned buildings from certain town regulations.
A moment of silence was held at the start of the meeting in honor of Aquinnah residents who had passed away.