Elm Site Actively Targeted for Dale School as Early as 2017

(Updated to include full 9/17/18 meeting tape.)

Heading into the Nov. 7 Special Town Meeting on the elementary school project vote, some of the divisiveness appears focused on Elm Street site selection with claims it was pre-determined, and that public engagement was shortchanged as a result.

Here’s what videos and public records from Massachusetts School Building Authority and Medfield School Department show:

• On Aug. 28, 2017 (months before Dale Street School was accepted into MSBA program), Superintendent Jeffrey Marsden was asked by School Committee about a possible second school location behind Wheelock and the impact on Bay Circuit Trail. In response, he stated with specificity, “The conversations I’ve had with Permanent Building Committee…really focused the building on where the (softball) diamond is…not to the right, but to left of it...that is the area…” (Virtually all 2017 and 2018 Permanent Planning & Building Committee minutes are missing.)

• At Jan. 2, 2018 Selectmen meeting (after MSBA acceptance), members Pete Peterson and Gus Murby conveyed they assumed Dale Street School would move to Wheelock site. Dale SBC member and school building professional Tim Bonfatti responded, “When you enter the (MSBA) program, you cannot predetermine where you put the school…the Town chooses the site.” (The Town was never given a choice.)

• On June 16, 2018, as an early MSBA step, Marsden submitted an Educational Profile Questionnaire that stated (on page 5, highlighted), “If this project is successful, we will no longer need current Dale Street School, and Town of Medfield and Medfield School Department will discuss future building uses.” Based on School Committee agendas and minutes, there is no record of the committee discussing the questionnaire prior to submission to MSBA or about its definition of success for the project.

• At Sept. 17, 2018 School Committee meeting, two members urged Marsden to hold community “listening” sessions to hear concerns, answer questions, and learn about the MSBA process. Despite agreement that steps would be taken within two months, nothing happened. The first community session on the Dale project wasn't held until more than a year later; interim promises of "community coffees" appear not to have been fulfilled.

• On April 9, 2019, prospective project managers were given these options during Dale Street School Building Committee (SBC) interviews: 1) "Renovate current building, and build behind Dale Street on baseball fields"; 2) Build a new school next to Wheelock School "on 69.88 acres of land to create a campus feeling;” or 3) “Town of Medfield bought state hospital lots.” However, the information as stated was inaccurate. Only one baseball field exists between Memorial and Dale Street Schools. Town records also show Wheelock site is 44.25 not 69.88 acres (even so, a significant percentage of the acreage is comprised of soccer fields close to town wells, which could create regulatory challenges).

• At the Dec. 5, 2019 School Committee meeting, Marsden referenced the Dale SBC review of multiple sites “so that when we present a recommendation…everyone knows we’ve looked at all the town-owned land, and we made a good-faith effort -- even though we want our first choice to be behind Wheelock.” (Despite the reference to “we,” agendas and meeting minutes show Medfield School Committee never voiced its preference for the Elm Street site at any public meeting.)

As disclosed at the recent SBC public forum by member Tim Bonfatti, renderings for a Dale Street School addition were allegedly created in early 2000s. It was also stated by another former town official with direct knowledge of building plans, that the renderings showed a new wing mirroring the current classroom section to right of the entrance, and replacing Pfaff Center. (Attempts to locate designs have been unsuccessful to date.)

The former official also noted that in the 1990s, the Wheelock site was considered for a second elementary school, but that plans were abandoned due to “a lot of concerns about building a new school over there -- likely for some of the same issues now.”

Documentation

Documentation of statements is embedded throughout article above (with segments of some meeting tapes created and posted for ease of viewing). Additional links to files and full-length tapes from Medfield TV, can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F15u_bKufUA (School Committee 8/28/17 meeting tape; discussion starts at about 9:00)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iabfMZchLkU&t=1s (Board of Selectmen 1/2/18 meeting tape)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19zANwVLRSNJqE1sj_GZ6MTtnGe2Q9EzX/view?usp=sharing (Educational Profile Questionnaire)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zNfxwPp_0hD6BHpmvdhjY2xIhs5c_ReF/view?usp=sharing (Owners Project Manager interview documents from MSBA)

https://youtu.be/uu4tUqOv-Co?list=PLypOllJHc4M1DBVk1wGLKZaP4IFF66DzV&t=5222 (School Committee 12/5/19 meeting)

Full 9/17/18 School Committee meeting tape with commitment to schedule listening session:

The author serves on Keep Dale at Dale Coalition, however, the research conducted for this article was initiated nearly two years ago -- long before the coalition was formed.