Westwood Votes To Approve Hanlon-Deerfield Combined School

WESTWOOD, MA - Westwood voters approved the debt exclusion for the proposed new elementary school building that will combine the Hanlon and Deerfield schools on the current Hanlon site by an 1,815-667 margin at Tuesday's special town election.

Westwood Town Clerk Dottie Powers shared the unofficial results at 9:28 p.m. Tuesday night.

This was the only question on the ballot. A total of 2,483 ballots were cast, with one blank ballot submitted.

All four precincts supported the measure. Precinct One voted 388 to 177 in favor of the question, while the margin in Precinct Two was 545-164 with one blank vote cast. In District Three, 563 voted for the school, while 184 voted against. The closest vote was in Precinct Four, with the question approved 319-142.

The article was widely debated at last week's special town meeting. Those in favor spoke of a state-of-the-art facility that would provide larger, accessible learning spaces as well as community amenities such as ballfields and performance space. Opponents questioned the need for a large new building, citing the burden to taxpayers as well as what they saw as a decline in elementary school enrollment.

An article on the special town meeting, where Town Meeting members approved of the project by an 85-percent margin, can be found here.

The total project cost is estimated at $88 million, with up to $18.2 million of funding secured through a competitive application process with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). Payments will be spread out over a 30-year bond, with the average taxpayer paying an increase of $462 a year.