School Committee On The Clock With Beebe School Decision

MELROSE, MA — It's hard to fathom the School Committee ever intended on voting on the fate of the Beebe School Tuesday night.

The vote was indeed pushed back to an unspecified time in 2020 — hopefully before the end of the school year, members said — but time is still against the Committee in its race to figure out how best to utilize the school space if they want it for the 2020-21 school year.

The vote was initially set for Dec. 10, but the Beebe's current tenant, the SEEM Collaborative, has received two proposals to move; the SEEM's Board meets Dec. 17 to discuss the proposals. The School Committee can't vote on how to handle the Beebe until they know if and when the SEEM will leave.

"The later it gets the more difficult it gets for us for any renovations to that building," Superintendent Cyndy Taymore said Tuesday. "But until then you cannot make any decisions."

So the vote was pushed back, as has been expected since a Nov. 19 public hearing in which residents expressed displeasure with the expedited process. But with all the School Committee still needs to suss out between now and whenever a vote takes place, it's hard to imagine they would have given the most comprehensive thought possible by Dec. 10.

So people now appear to be getting what they want, but did the School Committee wait too long to give it to them?

School Committee Chair Ed O'Connell got the obvious out of the way.

"We may not have the Beebe School next year," he said.

But the hope is to have it. Indeed, the school district is in dire need of the space, a point made clear once again through the meeting.

O'Connell wants a process mapped out for a Beebe decision, one that has milestones laid out so the public can know in advance what the Committee is working toward and talking about — a "pre-planned inclusive process." The first meeting of the year will be on finances Jan. 7.

O'Connell also said he wants one or two more public forums. He has been open about hearing the public's displeasure with how the process has played out thus far.

Still, O'Connell wants a decision by the end of the school year, a sentiment shared by his colleagues. While there is much to be discussed, the School Committee must come to a conclusion soon in order for the school to have a chance at being ready for the next school year.

School Committee member John Obremski likened having the Beebe space available but not acting to sitting on a lottery ticket but not wanting to drive to the Lottery's Braintree headquarters to cash it in. Sooner or later, he said, the Committee has to pick up the check.

Part of the problem could be the School Committee searching for the perfect answer, Taymore suggested. While the long-term implications of the Beebe decision are important, she said the short-term ones — particularly the ballooning kindergarten enrollment — are what need to be addressed now.

New School Committee member Mayor Paul Brodeur said at some point the Committee needs to bear down, work with what they've got and come to a decision, with the understanding that it won't please everyone.

"Wherever we land," he said, "folks aren't going to like it."