Mr. Balestracci's statements appear in italics.  Bill Quirk's comments are indented.

On Jan. 14, we will vote on a comprehensive school construction project that includes an addition to Baldwin Middle School, a new 7/8 school on the Baldwin campus, a 775-seat auditorium, and a new east/west access road. The estimated cost of the entire project before state reimbursements is $55 million. With a committed state reimbursement of $13,400,000, the net cost will be $41,600,000. Our excellent bond rating and low interest rates make the timing of the project judicious. Construction costs are the lowest in years. And, today we are guaranteed a 33 percent state reimbursement on the project, a rate which, given the current state deficit, will likely go down significantly in the future.

• We are not guaranteed the $13,400,000 state reimbursement.
• This project requires that the town take over the maintenance of Adams. The base annual cost is $183,000, according to Mrs. Truex.   The annual cost for maintenance employees is unknown at this time.  The BOE plans to move current maintenance employees to the replacement building.
• This project assumes that Adams will be renovated for other use. The total cost to do this, with 20-year bonding, is unknown at this time.

• These are very optimistic expectations.  They assume a worst-case project-related increase of just 1.65 in the mil rate, four years from now.  The actual increase will more likely be double this amount, and that doesn't include any increase related to the ongoing maintenance and renovation of Adams.

• I questioned the qualifications of Educational Consultants of Connecticut (ECC) at the November 4th BOS meeting.   I said that there's no evidence that they've ever carried out a comparable project for another school district.  There's still no evidence!
• Who are the "curriculum trends" experts?  We should be learning from Madison.

• It's not unanimous now.

• The ECC analysis was very superficial.  They merely described the space at Adams.   They never analyzed how space is actually used.
• We've never seen the details that explain why Adams can't be preserved as a school.

• There are 44 classrooms at Adams, with 34 of these rooms currently used for all team teaching and language instruction.  Although average class size is 21, at least nine of these 34 rooms are empty every class period, and 16 are empty for four of the eight periods. This is because only one teacher uses each classroom. This arrangement made sense when teachers taught every period, but teachers at Adam have three non teaching periods.
• Converted storage space and closets as classrooms?  Why not use all those empty classrooms?

• Putting all aspects together, the current project could easily cost 80 million dollars over 20 years.
• Let's forget about significant reimbursement.  That won't happen.
• There's no evidence that we need significant additions and renovations. We should first be much more efficient about use of space currently available in Adams, Baldwin, Cox, Jones, Lakes, and Leete.
• "Greater expense in the future" appears to assume a significant growth in school age population.  But there's evidence that we may actually experience a gradual decline for the age 5 to 19 group, over the next 12 years.

• Guilford citizens need to understand the details behind "appropriate" and "more suited."   It means a increased emphasis on the progressive model of education, and a decreased emphasis on academic achievement.
• Consider the 2001-02 hours of instruction per year for grade 8 at the Adams School, and compare to the corresponding state and Madison averages. This is a zero sum game:  more time on art and music, and less time on academics.

 

 
 
 
 
 

	Adams	State	Madison
English	125	158	150
Math	125	145	150
Science	125	141	150
Art	63	38	40
Music	120	59	69

Source:  2001-02 Connecticut School Profiles
Click on  Adams.   Then click on Madison (Brown)  and compare page 4 data.

• Annual maintenance of Adams will be a new $500,000 expense.  There's no free lunch.
• We still have no idea about the cost to renovate Adams for new town use.

• Original capacity of 500?  What about current capacity?  Recall that at the October 28th public defense, the Baldwin Principal, Mrs. Sturkowski,  said she didn't need portable classrooms.   But there are 627 students at Baldwin now, so it appears that the real capacity exceeds this figure.
• Next, let's analyze actual space use at Baldwin.  Similar to Adams, teachers at Baldwin have 3 non-teaching periods.    How many classrooms are empty each class period?
• Finally, will someone please explain how building capacity is determined?

• At a recent BOS meeting, former First Selectman, Mr. Larkins, told you why he didn't agree with the inclusion of this significant additional expense.

• This connecting road may be much more expensive than we currently expect.