Currents in Education
School Committee plans next step for YHS Arts Wing project
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - The next step for the York High School Arts Wing project will be to gather members of its original building committee and the plan's architect to discuss how to move forward.That was the consensus when the School Committee met last Wednesday, Oct. 4, to discuss the joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen and Budget Committee on Sept. 28 and how to best move forward. The committee noted that the majority of those in attendance at the recent meeting agreed the need for arts education, rehearsal and performance space at the school continues to go unmet.
Voters rejected the proposal for the renovation and expansion at York High School back in May by a margin of about 400 votes. The Budget Committee had supported the plan with a majority vote; the School Committee was unanimous in backing the project, but the Board of Selectmen voted 4-1 against it prior to the May vote. The School Committee had asked the other two boards to join together to discuss the future on Sept. 28.
Last week, the School Committee members agreed they had no definitive answers as to what aspects of the project could be changed to win the support of certain members of the Budget Committee and selectmen, but added the next step must honor the intent of the voters in turning down the project.
"It gave a good representation of the sentiments that are out there," School Committee Chairwoman Patty Hymanson said of the opinions expressed at the tri-board meeting. "… There's no easy answer to it. … I feel that we educated the voters very well and they knew what they were voting on, so I can't make the argument that people didn't know enough. … We can't go forward with the same project again in the same way."
Aside from consistent statements throughout the process by Selectman Torbert Macdonald, Jr., that he could not support the project without environmentally-friendly elements, Vice Chairwoman Marilyn Zotos pointed out that there was not a single concrete response from the other boards as to why members did not support the plan, outside of comments about the cost as a whole.
"There wasn't anything specific … It was where does the auditorium fit in the overall capital needs of the town," she said, adding later, "I would hope it doesn't come down to which board and which chair you happen to be sitting in at the time. I would hope that these things can be really looked at for the true value overall to society in general."
School Committee member John D'Aquila pointed out that a spread of just 400 votes back in May "basically means you have to convert 200 people."
D'Aquila, who was elected to the committee at that same election, suggested looking at removing portions of the project, which both Hymanson and Zotos said had been assessed prior to the May vote.
Acknowledging comments by those present at the September meeting who urged a capital campaign to raise the money for the project without appropriating funds from taxes, School Committee member Tim Fitzgerald said that should be the same process used for a new Town Hall and police station if that is what the town wants for the arts wing.
"Quite frankly, when we go back to the voters, whenever that is, it's going to cost more," Zotos said of the rising costs of building anything in town. "It's not a threat; it's just going to cost more. … Once they start looking at the specifics of what it means to build these kinds of municipal complexes … I think there will be sticker shock."
Assistant Superintendent Jim Amoroso suggested seeking input from the architect based on the failure of the project to win majority support at the polls. The board agreed unanimously to schedule a meeting with the School Building Committee and the architect to discuss where to go from here.
