While construction is not quite complete on the new elementary school, members of the Permanent Building Committee already have the building’s maintenance on their minds. On Sept. 7, the committee sent a letter to the Select Board asking if a maintenance plan for the new school exists, who prepared it, and who will be responsible for following it. The letter also recommended that funding for the plan not come out of the school budget.
In the letter, the committee asked the board to confirm the existence of a plan that includes a maintenance schedule and a schedule for replacing aging parts and equipment. It acknowledged that, while maintenance is not part of its charge, it “wishes to voice its opinion on this issue in hopes of action being taken now rather than retroactively.”
Responsibility and funding for maintaining school buildings is currently separate from other buildings. School Superintendent Linda Dwight told the Press that maintenance of the new school will be the responsibility of Pat Harrigan, the school’s director of facilities, and he will be using a Dude Solutions software package called SchoolDude to track maintenance and warranty work.
The school budget contains money for maintenance, but in its letter, the PBC questioned that arrangement, which it said forces the School Committee to choose between prioritizing education and building maintenance. As a solution, the committee recommended that funding for “scheduled and incidental repairs” for the new building come from a fund that is separate from the general school budget to “ensure that the funds intended for proper care of the town’s new major investment are used for their intended goal.”
The letter went on to say, “The town must be fiscally responsible for the long term and maintain this new building so that it remains serviceable for the many years it is intended to last. We know that buildings in use will need repairs and we must learn from our recent experiences with the old Hildreth Elementary School that was demolished after only just over 30 years of use.”
The Select Board has not yet discussed the letter at a public meeting. A copy was also sent to the chairs of the School Committee and the Capital Planning and Investment Committee.
