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The select board met with the school, finance, and Andover High School building committees Wednesday ahead of a special town meeting next month that could be a referendum with the potential to kill the $451.5 million new school project.
The Nov. 20 special town meeting will be asked whether the town should spend $1.3 million for a detailed design for a new high school and $500,000 for a study of an interim approach that would extend the life of the existing building until the Town has a stronger debt profile and a better chance of getting state assistance from the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The select board added the interim approach study Monday after it was first proposed at the Sept. 28 quad-board meeting.
If Andover were to move forward with the new school project, it would lower the Town’s bond rating and increase how much it pays in interest to borrow for a wide range of projects and capital needs. Under its current debt profile, Andover could borrow around $50 million before triggering a bond rating downgrade.
Read an an AI-generated transcript of Wednesday’s quad-board meeting.
While most of the elected and appointed officials who spoke Wednesday staked positions firmly in support of the project, residents who spoke during the public comment period expressed sticker shock at the $451.5 million proposal — even when they believed Andover needs a new high school.
Cricket Circle resident Caroline Cohen, a data analyst, said she supports a new school. But, having spent “all of my free time looking at this,” she said she felt the data and projections presented by backers were “biased.”
“It’s really hard as a citizen to make a decision on this because we really want this high school project, but it really just does not seem affordable at this time,” Cohen said. “And it’s hard to take that position of seeming against the project when really you are for it.”
At the current, preliminary price tag, a new high school would cost the average Andover homeowner as much as $66,410, or $2,215 per year, over 30 years.
Members of the Andover High School Building were caught off guard when the select board added the interim approach article to the warrant with a 4-1 vote Monday, with Laura Gregory opposing the motion. Building committee and former school committee member Shannon Scully said Wednesdat the Town would need to spend in excess of $100 million to implement the yet-to-be-studied interim approach.
“We can go through an activity of coming up with what’s the current pricing for all of the things we already know need to be fixed, but, frankly, I don’t think we need $500,000 from town meeting to do it. I think we could probably sit in a room and show you what that list is today,” Scully said. “And once we’ve figured all of that out, I don’t think there will be any money left to actually improve anything related to the learning environment.”
But members of the finance committee, who will prepare a recommendation on whether special town meeting should accept or reject the AHS articles, cast the $500,000 study as a plan B the Town could explore if voters reject the new school.
“Certainly when we realized the price tag was close to a half a billion dollars, you have to know that changes the conversation,” Finance Committee Chair Paula Colby-Clements said. “It’s the beginning of a conversation that, frankly, has to happen because a half-a-billion dollars is a lot of money, and if the community’s going to get behind a half-a-billion dollars, I think they’re only going to feel satisfied that that’s a good decision if they know all the questions have been asked and answered.
Wednesday’s quad board meeting to discuss the educational plan follows an earlier meeting, where the four bodies took a deep dive into the financing scenarios.
“We know the problems. We have an idea of the math. Do not be surprised when there is no room for educational improvements because everything that will be in this budget goes to break-fix activities,” Scully said to Colby-Clements. “Don’t be surprised.”
The meeting opened with Superintendent Magda Parvey and other APS officials leading a 25-minute presentation, including a student-produced video, on how the building committee developed the educational plan that highlights the current school’s problems and informed the new school’s design.
“It was designed to reflect what the actual needs are…not nice to have, but what the need to have things are,” Parvey said. “So we need more science labs, science spaces, special education spaces, and the plan reflects those priorities and what is needed in the high school.”
“Is it worth spending another half million dollars to do something that won’t bring any additional educational value?” school committee member Susan McCready said. “I want people to be very clear when they’re taking their votes, what that trade off is, or that there is potentially no improvement to education.”
Warrant At A Glance
The Andover Select Board officially called a special town meeting for Nov. 20 on Wednesday.
In addition to two AHS construction articles, there a five citizen petition articles on the warrant released Thursday.
The following is a simplified description of each question STM will be asked on Nov. 20:
Article 1: Should the Town have a nonbinding ballot question asking whether Andover should continue with its open town meeting form of government?
Article 2: Should Andover cap property tax limits for people 65 and older?
Article 3: Should the Town to have retired and active Andover public employees contribute for health care premiums?
Article 4: Should the petitioners be given the same amount of time as Town officials for presentations at town meetings?
Article 5: Should Andover lower the speed limit on Chandler Road, Dascomb Road, Harold Parker Road, Jenkins Road, Lovejoy Road, Main Street between Shawsheen River and School Street, North Street and River Road?
Article 6: Should Andover establish a committee to monitor traffic safety, including speed limit enforcement?
Articles 7a & 7b: Should Andover spend $1.3 million for a detailed design of a new, $451.5 million high school and/or spend $500,000 to study the possibility of renovating the current school?
Do we need a new school? Yes. Can we afford it? No. Therefore we must wait. Patching up the old one and waiting until Doherty, West and Shawsheen are done seems prudent.
It is more want versus need. There are no fixable problems with the existing AHS building.
No not fixable