BURLINGTON WEATHER

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At their meeting on November 18, Burlington's School Committee spent time talking about what might come next for the Burlington High School project, now that the special election is over and the debt exclusion that would have allowed the $333-million project to move forward failed by a 2:1 margin in the town-wide vote.

BHS Building Committee Chair Katherine Bond opened with a statement that acknowledged the financial concerns of the project while recognizing the necessity of addressing the aging school:

"We fully understand that many residents simply cannot take on a significant tax increase right now," she said. "The economy is challenging for everyone. We hear you and we want to work with you to find a responsible path forward. We are in a difficult position with the high school. The building is old and requires either full replacement or a major renovation. Our staff has done an excellent job in maintaining it so that it will still looks good on the outside. But the core systems, HVAC, electrical and more are outdated and approaching the end of their usefulness."

She went on to recommend the district apply once more for state funding from the Massachusetts School Building Authority reimbursement program, which has funded new Fox Hill and Memorial Elementary Schools as well as an addition-renovation at Marshall Simonds Middle School but rejected the high school's Statement of Interest 13 years in a row.

During the campaign leading up to the November 15 election, the district came under scrutiny based on claims the Statements of Interest were not diligently completed. The application asks questions about the building's current exterior and interior conditions, educational programming, enrollment, and more.

During his remarks later in the meeting, Superintendent Eric Conti recommended the district keep the Building Committee together. Though there isn't a proposed project to work on anymore and the professional architectural, project management, and construction firms that completed the $1.5-million feasibility study will be disengaging from the district, he suggested their task could be creating a new Statement of Interest.

"I think we can continue to have productive meetings and go through the Statement of Interest and make sure everyone feels like we're putting our best foot forward," said Conti, who confirmed the application window will be open from January through April in 2026. He also suggested looking to other towns who have recently been approved and using information from the feasibility study to complete the new Statement of Interest.

"In the meantime," said Bond, "we should focus on what we can do to improve the learning environment for our students and faculty. Make it more comfortable, functional and safe. There may be some smaller cost-effective projects we can pursue while we work towards the solution."

Town Ways & Means (Finance Committee) Chair Doug Davison agrees but says it's going to be difficult to find projects that are both smaller and cost-effective, as the mechanical systems are outdated and end-of-life and updating them is certain to trigger code upgrades for the whole school. (These thresholds are triggered when a project exceeds 30% of the assessed value of the building or touches more than 50% of the building over three years.)

"We need to start looking at BHS as an unfunded liability," said Davison, going on to say that chunking projects out is likely to reveal that any attempt to remediate the mechanical systems will reach that threshold.

In the end, said Bond, there's nothing to do but continue working toward a solution. "We hear the concerns from residents", she said, "and we are committed to examining every idea, every possible option until we find the right solution."

There is one more BHS Building Committee meeting scheduled for December 11 at 6:30 PM; we'll keep you updated on the outcome of this meeting.

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