WILMINGTON, MA — Last month, several key decision makers in town met to start discussions about planning the future of the three elementary schools on the west side of town — Boutwell Early Childhood Center, Shawsheen Elementary School, and the West Intermediate School.
School Chair Chair David Ragsdale, Select Board Chair Gary DePalma, Finance Committee Chair John Doherty, Public Buildings Superintendent George Hooper, Assistant School Superintendent Paul Ruggiero, School Superintendent Glenn Brand, and (then) Town Manager Jeff Hull met on Thursday, October 12, 2023 to explore what comes next after the school building project for the north side of town — Wildwood Early Childhood Center, Woburn Street Elementary School, and the North Intermediate School.
“The meeting was extremely productive during which an overview of the timeline regarding the Wildwood MSBA Building project was provided,” Hull and Brand wrote in a joint memo to the Select Board and School Committee. “It was also conveyed to the group that, in many meetings lately with members of the community and staff in connection with these early stages of the project, residents are frequently seeking information about the Town’s plans to address the condition of and possible replacement of schools on the west side of Town since they are not part of the current MSBA project discussions. Additionally, residents are interested in understanding the Town’s timing for future school projects.”
The six attendees of the meeting collectively agreed that the full membership of all three boards — the Select Board, the School Committee and Finance Committee — should take part in a joint tri-board meeting to share additional information and continue the initial discussions about steps the Town should be taking over the next several years to prepare to address school buildings on the west side of town.
Hull and Brand asked the chairs to determine their boards’ preference for a meeting date among three possible dates. The eventual meeting would be held in-person if Wilmington Community Television was able to cover it. Otherwise, the meeting would be held via ZOOM so it could be easily recorded.
The agenda for the proposed tri-board meeting would cover the following:
- timeline for the Wildwood MSBA project
- timeline for a ‘West-side’ Project relying upon MSBA funding
- possible pathway to build a new school on the west-side of town without MSBA funding
- overview of a capital study proposal for FY25
- identifying strategies to build community understanding about the MSBA project
Selectman Kevin Caira Does Not Feel This Is The Right Time To Discuss A Second School Building Project
When the Select Board was presented with the joint memo at their Monday, October 23, 2023 meeting, Selectman Kevin Caira spoke out against key points in the memo.
“I’m not a big fan of west side, east side, north side, south side. We’re all one community,” said Caira. “We have the potential of a new elementary school at the Wildwood. It’s going through the MSBA project program. We should be concentrating on that. And we have two other projects — the Town Hall/School Administration Building and the Senior Center. We should be focused on those as well.”
“We have a facilities master plan. [The memo] says we want to next what the next steps are…. The town spent some substantial funds and came up with a plan. It showed and it outlined how we would be approaching these schools. I don’t understand why we’d want to spend upwards of, what I heard, $100,000 on another facilities plan, when we already have one in place. Granted, it was done in 2017, but it’s still viable,” continued Caira.
“To have in [the memo] mention of a discussion about a pathway to build a new school without the MSBA funding is a big undertaking and ask for the taxpayers of the community. I appreciate the group getting together and talking and wanting to have a joint meeting, but we have a plan in place, we’ve done a feasibility study, we have three projects going, and we keep – ad nauseum – keep talking about a substation and we just cannot forget about that,” added Caira.
“I get it. We need to update our schools. And we’re taking those steps with the Wildwood,” Caira concluded. “I think we have a plan in place and we’ve been going by that plan, and I don’t see why we need to spend money on another plan.”
Select Chair Gary DePalma disagreed with some of Caira’s commentary.
“[Exploring] what we’re going to have to do is not going to cost us anything right now,” responded DePalma. “I’m not expecting [a West-side school building project] to come out of this as long as I’m sitting up here. I’ll probably be dead and buried before anything is done. But why not, at least, move forward with [a discussion]?”
“We can move forward with ideas, it doesn’t hurt,” reiterated DePalma. “We’re not going to announce we’re ready to build another new school. Let’s be honest, we don’t have the money for it. But, we also have to look into the future to see what we’re going to have to deal with.”
None of the other board members weighed in as the board was not being asked to take a vote.
Selectman Bendel pointed out that one of the suggested meeting dates — December 11, 2023 — conflicted with a Select Board Meeting. The other suggested dates — November 6, 2023 and November 7, 2023 — do not appear to have selected as there are no meetings listed on the Town Clerk’s website for either date.
It is still undetermined if and when the tri-board meeting will take place.
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