Under Radar: School Committee OKs New Elementary Proposal (updated)

(This article has been updated with recently posted meeting information, including a location change.)

For anyone interested in the status of the Dale Street School building project, the Tuesday, Aug. 30 Medfield Board of Selectmen meeting could be a good time to pay close attention -- and provide input.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Medfield High School library media center (a different location that usual due to early voting), and will also be held via Zoom.

The Board of Selectman meeting agenda has now been posted -- click here to access it on the town website.

Based on the outcome of the Aug. 22 Medfield School Committee meeting, the committee goal for the Aug. 30 selectmen meeting is to gain board approval and begin the new School Building Committee recruitment process.

The proposal (technically an "application") is a required first step in accordance with the new School Building Committee (SBC) bylaw approved at 2022 Annual Town Meeting.

(What follows are many of the key points that were initially published in the Monday morning edition of the Aug. 22 Medfield Insider. Click "Join Our Email List" to subscribe.)

Here is a look at the recent process:

• At 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 18 Medfield School Committee held a previously unscheduled workshop to review and discuss a draft proposal for a new elementary school. As confirmed by the school committee chair, messages to publicize the workshop were never sent to parents (despite committee access to a parent e-mail list and a relatively new Apptegy phone app). The community at large could only learn about the workshop through a town website posting on Aug. 16 at 1:20 p.m.

• During the workshop, then School Committee Chair Jessica Reilly stated that the proposal was in response to direction provided by selectmen.

• Some of that direction came in the form of a May 2022 e-mail from Gus Murby, chair of Board of Selectmen, to Reilly (and others), which asked for a clear statement of what school committee "is trying to do strategically with regard to configuration of school grades."

• In the e-mail, Murby also expressed his belief that the failed school vote was due to two factors: "People wanted greater transparency" and "The town's taxpayers became too polarized in their positions...making it virtually impossible to achieve a 2/3's majority..."

• Murby offered up various June 2022 Board of Selectmen meeting dates as possibilities for getting the project off the ground and beginning the SBC appointment process.

• The proposal discussed on Aug. 18 and Aug. 22 appeared to have been originally drafted by Superintendent Jeffrey Marsden, who stated he talked to individual selectmen and the town administrator about what it should contain.

• Reilly added that the selectmen had asked for school committee to provide information "on its highest priorities" for a new school, and also noted that the proposal is a "gift" to selectmen, and reflects, in part, "what we heard from our community are the things we'd like to see change." (School committee never conducted a community survey to understand why the vote failed, even though it had talked at length about issuing one.)

• Public input was not permitted at the Aug. 18 workshop, and the draft proposal was not shared with the public beforehand. When Reilly was asked by a fellow school committee member if it would be posted prior to the Aug. 22 School Committee meeting, her answer was "no."

• At the Aug. 22 (summer) school committee meeting, public input was only allowed in person.

The draft proposal reflects these points as discussed by school committee with regard to educational priorities (not necessarily in this order):

• Having adequate flexible space to respond to enrollment fluctuations at younger grades, with reference to impacts of "new development" in town (however, no revised current and projected districtwide school enrollment numbers have been made public);

• Providing a campus setting to minimize transitions, and increase shared staff and teacher collaboration; and

• Looking at a possible grade reconfiguration (with Massachusetts School Building Authority previously emphasizing much of the work would not be eligible for reimbursement).

At one point in the workshop, Superintendent Marsden alluded to the proposal document directing a new SBC down a specific path.

"It's a little like when parents write (child placement) letters for teachers, and you can't say the teacher's name but you write everything that could only be about that one teacher -- that's what this (proposal) reminds me of," said Marsden.

The draft proposal, dated Aug. 22, 2021 (dated as shown), can be viewed here.

The following workshop and meeting recordings are also available via the Medfield TV YouTube channel:

Aug. 22 School Committee meeting (approximate time stamp 31:50)

Aug. 18 School Committee workshop

As noted on the draft proposal, at the time of its writing, MSBA had not contacted the district to inform it of acceptance into the program.

(While school districts like Medfield that have applied to MSBA anticipate receiving official word about their application around December, prior successful applicants have noted they were informally contacted by MSBA months prior to gather additional information. Neither Medfield School Committee or the superintendent divulged if any informal correspondence with MSBA had transpired to date.)