September 28, 2022 By Carol Britton Meyer
Amid questions and concerns among parents centering around what the next steps would be if the proposal to build a new Foster School does not win approval at the upcoming Nov. 1 Special Town Meeting and subsequent Nov. 8 ballot vote, the Hingham Anchor reached out to Supt. of Schools Dr. Margaret Adams for clarification.
The Advisory Committee is also asking that question, she said, explaining that she and School Committee Chair Michelle Ayer plan to participate in Thursday's AdCom meeting, during which AC members are expected to discuss what comments to include in the STM warrant related to raising funds to construct a new Foster School and public safety facility and transferring available reserve funds into a "Capital Project Cost & Debt Service Stabilization Fund" for excluded debt payments and/or bonds issued for both facilities to help lessen the burden on taxpayers.
"Michelle and I will be discussing the contingencies [related to Foster School] at that meeting," Adams said.
The hybrid AdCom meeting is scheduled for this Thursday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m. Visit https://www.hingham-ma.gov/Calendar.aspx?
EID=7364&month=9&year=2022&day=27&calType=0 for meeting details, including the Zoom link.
Many parents have reached out to the Hingham Anchor to share their concerns about what would happen if the project does not move forward, noting that a two-thirds majority vote is needed for the Foster School warrant article to pass. If that is the outcome, a simple majority vote on the related question that will appear on the Nov. 8 state election ballot would also be required for the project to move forward.
Parents are concerned about the possibility of adding modular classrooms at the other three schools -- Plymouth River, East, and South schools to accommodate Foster's approximately 400 students should the project fail to win voter approval.
Noting that absolutely no decision has yet been made and that should the proposal fail to win voter approval, this would be just the beginning of the process, Adams explained that this question came up during the recent School Committee retreat.
She explained that there are currently three possible scenarios -- to move Foster students to another non-school building in Hingham, which she said would be an unlikely short-term solution because of the costs involved and the lack of possible options; invest in a revitalization of the existing Foster School building, which she noted the School Building Committee has already said was not plausible because of the "exorbitant" price tag and other issues; and redistricting from four to three elementary schools using modular classrooms as mentioned above, phasing out the Foster School building within a certain timeframe -- an option she said would seem the most plausible at this time.
Taking this approach could involve using some of the available playing field, parking lot, and playground areas at PRS, South, and East schools to make space for the modular classrooms "to accommodate the [potential] influx of Foster students," she said.
Adams emphasized, however, that this is the very beginning of the discussion should the Foster School proposal not move forward.
""Right now, we're being asked a hypothetical question," she said. "This would be a very long process involving permitting, engineering to find the right place to construct modular classrooms [if that plan were to move forward], and community discussions to gather stakeholder feedback to design a plan," she said. "In my mind at this point, redistricting seems to be the only viable, and least-disruptive, option [if necessary]."
It's likely that Foster students would temporarily remain in that building while options are discussed and the final decision implemented. "We have a contingency fund for emergencies, and we may have to ask for additional funds as we phase out the building in the event we needed to replace/repair something immediately -- such as the heating system or the plumbing," Adams said.
She made a point of reiterating that the question of next steps should the project fail to win voter support arose recently and at this time, the possibility of redistricting represents her "best response."
The potential alternatives that she shared with the Hingham Anchor could change. "Someone may have another solution. If the project doesn't pass, we need to start to do some planning," Adams said. "There could be all kinds of creative solutions as to how to phase out the Foster building while continuing to educate the students."
Let’s focus on advantages of winning rather than losing contingencies.