WILMINGTON, MA — At the end of its 3.5-hour meeting last week, the Wilmington School Committee took some time to discuss next steps following the town-wide Facilities Master Plan discussion last month.
“School Committee members needs to consider how you might want to sustain those conservations within this group and what that would look like. A subcommittee? A working group?,” began Superintendent Dr. Glenn Brand. “We need to be a little selfish and look ahead to what’s in our interest and try to navigate all those”
Brand stressed that the Wildwood Early Childhood Center itself, and housing the district’s Student Services department within in the Wildwood, both pose short-term problems that cannot wait many years to be solved.
“We need to move forward on multiple fronts,” agreed School Committee member David Ragsdale. “What is our immediate short-term needs and where we are going to that? Student Support Services needs an alternative space. What does that look like? What kind of options do we have? How does it impact our budget?”
“The Wildwood is probably the next issue. Will modular spaces be needed?,” continued Ragsdale. “At the same time, we need to think about the longer game and the town’s facility master plan in terms of articles that will eventually show up at Town Meeting. When thinking about the reconfiguration of schools and consolidation, we need more expertise and consultation for that.”
“We need to continue this momentum and to keep the ball rolling. We had a productive and positive meeting with the Board of Selectmen, but no action items came out of that meeting. We need to determine how we can move this conversation to action,” Ragsdale added.
“Town officials are open to us presenting them with a plan,” responded School Committee Chair Jenn Bryson. “We know we’ll need some outside support [from planners and consultants]. That’ll be part of the work of this subcommittee. I think this is very urgent. We need to move rather quickly and meet frequently.”
In response to a question from School Committee member MJ Byrnes, Superintendent Brand said it was still to be determined if the town will submit an application to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for a building project by this April’s deadline.
“We’re trying to explore that at this very moment. We’ve got some time, but not a lot of time. The statement of interest process if very laborious,” responded Brand.
At the end of the conversation, the School Committee unanimously approved the creation of a subcommittee to explore options of addressing the various school facility needs. Jenn Bryson, Jo Newhouse, and MJ Byrnes will serve on the subcommittee, which will provide the entire School Committee with public updates on a regular basis.
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