From the Eagle Tribune;
Timberlane schools and grounds in need of repair Schools, grounds need work
By Meghan Carey
mcarey@eagletribune.com
There's a hole in Atkinson Academy.
"We did some hedge trimming and made an interesting discovery," facilities manager Jim Hughes said. "The siding is sliding."
Moisture from the hedges that line the front of the historic part of the school has rotted a portion of the clapboards. But because the 1802 building has a thick sill and foundation, it's just the exterior of the building that has been damaged, Hughes said.
Repair work there is just one of many projects that will need to be done next year to keep the Timberlane Regional School District buildings in working order. Hughes made his first budget presentation to school officials late last week, and he's asking for an additional $43,360 just for building repairs.
That would bring the building repair line of the budget up to $734,360.
The request comes on the heels of a New England School Development Council's recommendation to either renovate and add on to the middle and high schools, or to build one new school and renovate the other. Those buildings are 35 and 42 years old.
There's a list of 43 building projects and six site projects throughout the district that the facilities committee will prioritize tomorrow morning, business manager George Stokinger said. The site project estimate is $58,400.
At Pollard Elementary School, there's a 3-inch drop in the handicap ramp outside the main office and many of the sidewalks around it are crumbling and cracked, Hughes said. Roadwork also needs to be done at Sandown North, where a misplaced catch basin has caused part of the driveway to wash out, he said.
The costly repairs are necessary, given the age of many of the district's schools, School Board member Michael Mascola said. Voters may think school officials constantly throw money at projects, but he said it's necessary to maintain $88 million worth of property.
Superintendent Richard La Salle said the district also is considering putting forward a warrant article for a second phase of renovations in the high school woodshop area. The first phase, which created a physics and chemistry lab and cost $500,000, was funded through the operating budget.
It's up to voters to decide on the budget and any potential warrant articles, but La Salle said it is officials responsibility to put forward the logical projects that are safety issues.
Atkinson Town Hall
The Norman Rockwellian picture of Atkinson
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3 comments:
The last few years, we've been sold on new additions and expansion of facilities and now they're laying groundwork that basically says to knock it all down and start over.
Give me a break. In THIS economy they're coming up with this garbage. Fat chance.
The only thing that needs to be blown up and started from scratch is the current budget and spending policies. My school taxes are already too painful as it is.
I'm wondering if people from the 4 towns and their selectmen could work together and come up with a "sense of the district" (nonbinding) warrant article that basically says that before we send any more capital dollars to TRSD we should take care of needs at home. I'm thinking of stuff like police stations, most likely each town has stuff it has deferred because so much $$ gets eaten by TRSD.
There is a joint selectmen meeting (more than the 4 TRSD towns) coming up in Danville soon.
they are also looking for 'modest' increases in the budget in the face of a declining enrollment. If you watch the presentation (TEN and www.danvilledelivery.com), you'll see that the 'modest' increase does not include teacher salary and benefit increases which will be approved as a separate warrant. The increase is breathtaking under the circumstances -- you really need to watch.
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