Meanwhile, follow-up questions will be addressed this Tuesday, December 1st at 7:15 pm in a joint meeting with the School Committee, School Building Committee, and the design team from Symmes, Maini, & McKee. The meeting will be held in the School Committee Room, 36R Bartlet Street, second floor. Please plan to attend.
- Cost of Keeping Shawsheen Open Indefinitely: Joe Piantedosi, Director of Plant & Facilities, provided an itemized list of building improvements that would have to be addressed within the next five years in order to keep Shawsheen open as a school. These include accessibility requirements, aging building systems, and code issues (including seismic protection, which is now required). It is important to note that if work is done that costs 30% or more of the full and fair cash value of the property, then the entire building is required to comply with all codes. Therefore, it would be impossible to address just the building systems issues without addressing the code issues as well. Mr. Piantedosi's estimate of the total renovation costs for Shawsheen is $7 million. This includes the cost of relocating students during construction, since construction would not be able to be completed within the course of summer vacation months.
- Cost of Keeping Shawsheen Open in the Short-Run while the New Bancroft is Built: Mr. Piantedosi reported that we should be able to avoid most of the long-term improvements and code issues noted above, but some repairs and upgrades would be required, such as flooring upgrades and a new or used emergency generator. The estimated cost of these projects would be $50,000 to $150,000.
- General Concept Plan for a Modular-Construction Addition to Sanborn: Mr. Piantedosi provided a general concept plan to illustrate how a new classroom wing could be added to the rear of Sanborn Elementary School. If this addition was used to accommodate the Pre-K program, there would be no impact to the cafeteria or gym space, since Pre-K students do not use those facilities; if it were for K-5 students, however, there would be an impact to the cafeteria and gym which is not addressed in the concept plan. The square footage of this addition would be 10,140 square feet. Construction costs have not yet been researched.
- Possible Enrollment Scenarios: Dr. Bach presented some initial enrollment scenarios. The first showed what would happen if Shawsheen were closed today, all of its students were sent back to their home districts, and the pre-K program divided up amongst the remaining five elementary schools. In this scenario, class sizes at West Elementary would be unacceptable (e.g. over 35 in grades 2 and 3). Dr. Bach then presented a scenario which showed what would happen if we closed Shawsheen, moved the whole pre-K to the new Bancroft, and expanded the K-5 population at Bancroft with only limited redistricting; this resulted in a total student population of 722 at Bancroft. Since a more full-scale redistricting would bring the total number of students at Bancroft down, the School Committee has asked Dr. Bach to prepare enrollment scenarios which would show the results of a complete redistricting. We've also asked for scenarios that would show the pre-K at Sanborn, the pre-K at Bancroft, and the pre-K split between the two.
- Order of Magnitude Costs: Lorraine Finnegan of SMMA provided rough estimates of the cost differential for building to different student population sizes. These estimates are based on square footage increases only; please note that other factors can influence construction costs as well. In general, going from 500 to 600 students adds approximately $2.2 million to the overall cost; going from 600 to 700 students adds roughly another $3.7 million to the overall cost. These cost differentials vary because once you increase the number of students past a certain point, you must also increase the size of core facilities such as the gym and cafeteria.
- MSBA Funding: Recent communication with the MSBA indicates that the state is inclined to pay for the construction costs of Pre-K classroom space if it is located at Bancroft. They would not pay for a corresponding increase in core facility space, because pre-K students do not use the gym and cafeteria. However, like all funding for this site, there is no guarantee of reimbursement until the funding agreement with the MSBA is signed after the schematic design phase.
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Thank you for the update.
ReplyDeleteI have a clarifying question: From an earlier SBC meeting, we learned there is an MSBA gross square footage requirement of 185 sq'. Using this as a basis, Lorraine's estimates in point #5 would cost $135/sq' from 500 to 600 students and $200/sq' from 600 to 700 students, but we are using a benchmark from North Andover that notes $275/sq' to construct a permanent modular wing in point #3. Is it truly 37% more expensive per square foot to use modular construction than to build new brick and mortar? I think it's important to better understand the "other factors" that may be influencing these estimates so we have a strong basis for the economics at both Bancroft and Sanborn.
Thanks for your question, Todd. Comparing the construction costs of a new brick and mortar Bancroft versus a modular addition to Sanborn versus the stand-alone new modular school in North Andover is very much an apples to oranges exercise. I provided the $275/square foot figure for the North Andover project because I thought it might be helpful as a rough order-of-magnitude reference--NOT because we are using that figure as a specific benchmark comparison. Until we have better information on the cost of the proposed modular addition to Sanborn, we can't know exactly what the comparative economics are. So, to avoid confusion, I've modified my original post in point # 3 above so that--regarding the Sanborn addition--it just says "construction costs have not yet been researched." Meanwhile, I'll check back with SMMA for further information on gross square footage requirements and other factors influencing construction cost.
ReplyDeleteWould it be possible for someone to please comment on the current available data which relate school size to academic performance?
ReplyDeleteIs there an option to lease space for our town pre-K or combine our town pre-K with North Andover? Does this further save costs versus building a permanent building in a fixed location for this program that seems to continually evolve? It's a luxury to be able to build a beautiful, new town preschool...but are we required to construct a new building for pre-K at this point in time? Regardless of MSBA funding, the less we need to spend on any building construction, the better.
ReplyDeleteAlong the same lines, I don't understand why portables aren't being considered as part of the solution to resolve capacity issues during a horrible economy. Bancroft structural issues need to be replaced, but if the site can't absorb 2 schools here, other cost effective solutions should be considered.
I'd offer just a couple of thoughts on the question of relating school size to performance.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting question, and a few quick searches show that this has been a topic of considerable study across the country over many years. Alas, most of the studies seem to focus on large urban districts, which isn't surprising given the crisis that exists in many cities. Others might find more current and relevant data.
That aside, I encourage us to keep in mind that simply comparing schools by size alone isn't terribly meaningful. As we know, other factors, including class size, the quality of teachers and administrators, parental involvement and, probably most significantly, the socio-economic profile of the community, all play significant roles.
Moreover, I'm sure many of us would agree that standarized tests are far from perfect indicators of educational quality, particularly in high-performing districts.
For all these reasons, I would caution against making broad-brush comparisons. Trying to draw a conclusion by looking at the size and performance of Andover's five K-5 schools may be tempting, but the data isn't statistically meaningful. Equally, there is little value in simply comparing all Massachusetts schools unless one takes into account the other factors that influence performance.
My bottom line is not to say it's an unimportant question, but only to note that it's not a simple one.
When is the next meeting? Are are decisions being made at that meeting? Of has a decision already been made?
ReplyDeleteRegarding the question above about leasing space for the Pre-K or combining our Pre-K with North Andover: the director of the North Andover Early Childhood Center has told us they have a maximum capacity of 150 pre-K students, assuming they fill all ten of their classrooms with 15 children each. Their enrollment as of October 1st was 90, with more students projected to enroll during the course of the year. This means they would not have the capacity to accommodate more than a portion of our students, as Andover’s October 1st pre-K enrollment was 75, with more projected to enroll during the year (as a benchmark, by the end of last year Andover had 99 pre-K students).
ReplyDeleteWe are not required to build a new Pre-K building at this time. However, we do have ADA compliance issues at Shawsheen. If we keep Pre-K students there, those issues will have to be addressed. If we lease space somewhere else in town, there will be costs associated with retroffiting that space for Pre-K use and ensuring that it is accessible and compliant with required codes. Portables can be considered as well. All of these possibilities are options, and all of them carry costs, so each needs to be compared with the possibility of folding pre-K classrooms into the new Bancroft design and receiving MSBA reimbursement for it--in terms of both short and long-term fiscal, infrastructural, and educational feasibility.
The first step, however, is determining what number of students can be enrolled in the new Bancroft without causing a detrimental impact on education, or on the safety or integrity of the surrounding neighborhood. This is what the Feasibility Study is designed to determine. If solving our pre-K (and other space needs issues) via the Bancroft project is not possible, other options for the pre-K can be considered.
I agree comparing school size to academic performance is not a simple measure. However, when considering the value of school size to overall education quality, which includes more than academic skills at the elementary age, it seems intuitive to hypothesize that the smaller the environment, the more rich a school experience becomes for the young child. It's the reason why many of us choose to raise our families in a smaller, suburban setting versus a larger, urban one.
ReplyDeleteAs I consider the value of school size (versus class size), I offer the following thoughts:
If we are committed to maintaining reasonable class sizes, I believe we should be equally as stringent to maintaining reasonable population sizes at all our schools. There are numerous studies supporting smaller school population sizes as beneficial for students, teachers, parents, and the community. Below are 3 specific studies that make relevant points to the Bancroft District:
In this study http://www.rda.aps.edu/RDA/Documents/Publications/05_06/ES_School_Size.pdf the author describes the “Effects on Minority and Low-Income Students” as follows:
“• The effects of small schools on the academic achievement of ethnic minority students and students from low-income families are especially positive. In other words, large schools have a more negative impact on minority and low-income students than on students in general.
• School size has a particularly strong influence on student attitudes about school among low- income and minority students.
• The social behavior of ethnic minority and low-income students is even more positively impacted by small schools than that of other students.”
Because the Bancroft District has one of the higher percentages of Andover’s low-income students, it seems contrary to create Bancroft as the largest elementary school in town. Our “Family to Family” program is a perfect example of a small community working together to further education for each other, which exists more frequently in a “reasonably” sized school (500).
Another study http://www.smallschoolsproject.org/PDFS/dollars_sense.pdf discusses the diseconomies of scale of larger schools, including Social, Guidance, Transportation, Administration, Safety, and Teacher Attitude costs. Cost in each of these categories increases while quality declines with increased school sizes. The study also warns of attempting to create “Schools within a School” (SWaS) to attempt mimicking a small school environment and specifically advises against building a new school with this intent. On Page 18, the study states: “It [SWaS] is appropriate only to make use of an existing large high school building; it is not advisable to build a new facility so that it can be turned into SWaS.”
States, such as Virginia http://www.waterfordva-wca.org/school/school-size.htm, have performed extensive research that supports “small schools to be superior to large schools on most measures and equal to them on the rest…for both elementary and secondary students of all ability levels and in all kinds of settings.”
While my research is far from complete, it was a starting point to consider what is valuable to our school system in the long term (not just elementary schools, but Middle and High School as well).
A quick note regarding school size: this is one of many factors the School Committee is considering as we make a decision on an enrollment number for Bancroft. Clearly, size matters; less clear is exactly how or at what threshold or under what specific educational circumstances. It’s certainly possible to go on the internet and find any number of studies on this topic, representing varied conclusions; I have read through many of them. However, our primary job is to determine what is right for Andover, given Andover’s specific profile of community resources, level of parental involvement, class size range, staff supports, presence of instructional and special education assistants, tools to differentiate instruction, etc. etc. To this end we have spent our time speaking to our own principals, teachers, and administrators here in Andover, as well as to those in other schools--of various sizes--which we have visited. It is their input which is most important to us when it comes to determining an enrollment number for Bancroft that will best serve our students’ and community’s needs, both now and in the future.
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