Asbestos discovered in Galvin, Hansen windows

The School Committee will present a major capital spending problem to town leaders this week following the discovery of asbestos and PCBs in the windows at the Galvin Middle and Hansen Elementary schools.

The contaminants are only considered dangerous when the windows are disturbed during repairs or renovation, according to committee member Bob Golledge, the former head of the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The discovery was made by architects who were examining the windows as part of a process for applying for state reimbursement funding. Committee members were briefed on the problem by School Business Manager Ken Leon at their March 6 meeting.

Last year at annual town meeting, voters appropriated roughly $754,000 for window replacements at the Galvin and Hansen schools, although the funds were contingent on the school department receiving a 45 percent reimbursement from the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

Because of the contamination removal, the total cost of the project has now skyrocketed to $2.4 million, leaving a budget deficit of approximately $1.66 million.

Leon said the MSBA is leaning toward reimbursing the town for the window replacements, but it was not a guarantee as of last week. He added that the project must be fully financed before the state will release any funds.

The committee was planning to immediately inform the Capital Planning Committee, Finance Committee, and the Board of Selectmen in order to map out a financing plan before the May town meeting.

Financing options currently available to the committee include borrowing against future years’ capital funds, seeking a debt-exclusion override from voters in which the sum would be paid off over a number of years, or requesting funds from other town accounts.

Both Leon and Superintendent Jeff Granatino said the windows are going to have to be replaced at some point as they are 45 years old and are not energy efficient.

Golledge emphasized that the contaminants do not pose a danger in their present dormant state. “Once construction begins, it is airborne and the removal has to be done in a sensitive way,” he said.

In other news:

* The committee received a final FY14 operating budget figure of $33,320,505 from the town’s Revenue Committee. The favorable recommendation allows the committee to spend $774,000 in new money for programs and staff. Committee members decided to set aside $420,000 for unforeseen special education expenses and will work with Granatino to allocate the remainder of the funds on various program enhancements. They will also prepare a $500,000 spending plan if there are no special education budget deficits next year.

* The committee began a review of the foreign language courses offered at the middle and high schools. GMS language department head Laurie Moore, in her overview of the program, said there are currently 333 students taking Spanish, 118 taking French, and 18 taking German. Last year, there was talk of discontinuing German at the middle school until several parents protested and asked school administrators to reconsider. Granatino said as of now there are no plans to offer German at the eighth grade level next year, and there has been no determination whether it will be offered to seventh graders. Moore said the goals of the department are to create a sixth grade language program and align the curriculum in grades 6-12.

The committee will continue a discussion of the language program this week with CHS foreign language coordinator Karen Augenstern. The early consensus of the committee is that they would like to offer world languages to students before grade 7 and explore adding new languages such as Mandarin.

* Several members of the Canton Art Club presented some visuals of a mural they would like to create at the main entrance of the high school. The project will be financed by a grant obtained by student services director Debra Bromfield. The new mural would depict a flock of different birds in flight with a theme of “flying to the future.” The students said the mural would reflect the idea of CHS as an inclusive community, representing and accepting of all students. The club’s goal is to complete the project before the annual art show in May. Students making the presentation included Kelechi Ugocha, Kelley Haughey, Brendan Mullaley, Maddie Kaplan, Holly Gibbs, and faculty advisor Joyce Stenmon.

* The committee recognized the custodial and maintenance staff from all of the public schools for their efforts in the February 8-9 blizzard and their attempts to open school as soon as possible. The list included: (maintenance staff) Gene Zupkofska, Ken McAfee, Mark Eardley, Scott Parsons, William Dickie and Brian Medeiros; (CHS) Jim Farrington, Steve McLaughlin, Mike Keegan, Peter Gandolfo, Greg Shea and Bob Taber; (GMS) Mark Wedge, Ed Walsh and Milton DeSouza; (Luce) Rogelio Triana, Justin Pelchat and Pat Doherty; (Hansen) Tim Stock, Steve McCarthy and Daniel O’Mahony; and (Kennedy) Steve Idman and John McKay. The school department’s building and grounds director is Brian Lynch.

* The committee will next meet on Thursday, March 14 (tonight), at 7 p.m. in the CHS distance learning lab.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=19493

Posted by Mike Berger on Mar 14 2013. Filed under News, Schools. Both comments and pings are currently closed.