The School Committee last week approved sending a statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority, telling the state that Harvard might consider a secondary-school building project if Bromfield were to become overcrowded due to an influx of new students from Devens or unexpected development. The school board does not foresee such overcrowding, but because the state has in the past shut down its reimbursement for school building projects for years at a time, the board considers it prudent to submit letters of interest for both the elementary school and Bromfield for this funding cycle. The letter of interest is to ensure that the town would be eligible for state money if there is a future need for more school space.
The packet of information going to the state includes information about Devens as well as updated student enrollment projections for Harvard. The new enrollment projections show that the number of students, without Devens or school-choice students, is projected to decrease by 1 percent over the next five years, barring any new large housing developments. Over 10 years, the drop is even greater, from 1,254 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 in 2006, to 1,150 students in 2016. School Superintendent Tom Jefferson cautioned at last week’s school board meeting that projections past the first five years are not very reliable. He also noted that there were an unusually small number of births in town in 2005, only 34 babies, which may have skewed the results slightly downward.
Jefferson emphasized that in sending the statement of interest, the school board would not be taking a position on how the town should handle the disposition of the former Fort Devens. Rather, it is just preparing for the possibility that Harvard’s land there does revert back to town control, thereby increasing the potential for the school population to grow.
The statement, he said, “is just a requirement, a placeholder. We’d kick ourselves in three years, if we wanted it and didn’t have it.” Sending the statement of interest does not mean the town would actually start a building project, and it does not obligate the state to approve state funding for any such future Harvard school building projects, either. But without such a statement, Harvard would not be eligible to be considered for state money in this round of funding.
The school board voted to approve sending the statement, with no discussion. The selectmen also have to approve the application before it can be sent to the state School Building Authority. Both boards recently approved sending a similar statement of interest to the state to cover the possibility of enlarging or building a new elementary school, also in case the need arose due to unexpected growth in student numbers at that school.
