TOWN MEETING: Proposal to replace Bancroft School could come next year

By Brian Messenger
Staff writer

May 08, 2008 01:01 pm

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Town Meeting's recent approval of $300,000 to study structural deficiencies at Bancroft Elementary School could lead to a new school building proposal as soon as next year, according to the town Plant & Facilities director.

"I think the goal in the process is to have a proposal for the next Town Meeting, but there's a lot of work to get there," Joe Piantedosi said.

Piantedosi said the Bancroft building, built in the 1960s, is too structurally deficient to be renovated. Officials expect to receive 40 percent reimbursement from the state for a multimillion school construction project.

But before the town can receive any state aid, it must work through a newly developed process with the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

Piantedosi said he has been in contact with an MSBA project liaison, who will inform town officials of the next specific steps toward completing the feasibility study on the future of Bancroft Elementary.

On April 30, Town Meeting voted to fund a $300,000 feasibility study, which will examine structural deficiencies and potential solutions at the school.

Piantedosi said one of the immediate steps for the town will be appointing a building committee.

"There's a whole formal process that has to be followed," Piantedosi said. "We're working under a whole new set of criteria."

Bancroft will be one of 76 schools in the state to undergo a feasibility study, according to Mark Johnson, who worked for 16 months on a school facilities task force in town that identified Bancroft as the school building most in need of repair or replacement.

Johnson told Town Meeting that Bancroft is possibly the only wood-framed school in the state and possibly the only school in the country that was planned as a castle with a moat.

Maintenance of Bancroft was considered "a disaster" almost immediately, Johnson said.

"The cost has been going up and up every year," he said at Town Meeting.

Piantedosi told Town Meeting that $1.5 million has been appropriated for repair work on the school, the majority of which is a roof replacement scheduled for this summer.

Piantedosi said the roof work began during April school vacation and will pick up again during the summer.

More structural repairs will take place at Bancroft this summer, including the installation of more roof bracing in the cafeteria and repair work to the main entrance's outdoor columns, Piantedosi said. In January a shoring tower was installed in the school's media center out of fear that the roof could collapse over time, he said.

Piantedosi told Town Meeting that his department could likely keep Bancroft safe for another five to seven years.

"The repairs we're making now are basically being done just to keep the school open," Piantedosi said. "This is not a building we want to keep going."

According to a Finance Committee presentation given to voters before approval of Article 24, the total price of a future school building project will be contingent on the total amount borrowed, payback period, projected interest rate, timing of the debt issue and the funding source.

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