Master plan will identify anticipated enrollment crunch – Wicked Local Winchester

Melissa Russell mrussell@wickedlocal.com @WickedLocalStar

Winchesters School Committee took the initial steps earlier this month to address district overcrowding by submitting statements of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority outlining the need for the renovation of two elementary schools.

Committee member Chris Nixon said the board took the step seeking partnership with the MSBA to take advantage of a window of opportunity. He added that the SOI was "not a building plan" for projects at the Lynch and Muraco Elementary Schools, but a required early step with the state agency.

"If we didnt submit now we would have to wait another year," he said.

Nixon said the MSBA was allowing the district to submit SOIs for both schools, but as they were required to indicate a preference, the district put Lynch forward as the priority.

The MSBA privileges certain criteria for reimbursement, Nixon said, all of which are challenges faced by the Winchester School District. They include existing overcrowding, future enrollment growth, future overcrowding and physical plant age and condition.

"These are big for us," Nixon said. "Currently we are four classrooms short and are taking spaces that should not be used as classrooms."

Master plan

The districts facilities master plan, designed to identify needs and goals for the next 10 years, is currently being finalized, and information from the plan informed the SOI submission, Nixon said. The master plan working group is currently developing recommendations for space use at McCall Middle School and the elementary schools, as well as offering plans to relocate the districts central office, currently at the former Parkhurst School.

Nixon said that while all options for dealing with the space crunch are on the table, including using Parkhurst for classroom space, no firm solution has been as yet worked out.

"Any final master plan is going to call for the complete renovation, expansion or replacement of Lynch and Muraco because we know were going to need those two schools," he said. The 2007 master plan had called for renovation or reconstruction and expansion of the elementary schools and the current working group also considers the work as necessary, Nixon said.

Enrollment and growth

From 2013 to 2012, as statewide elementary school enrollment fell by three percent, Winchester saw its enrollment grow by more than 25 percent, Nixon said. This enrollment growth led to the MSBA agreeing to partner with Winchester on the

reconstruction and expansion of Winchester High School during the construction of the Vinson-Owen Elementary School. Elementary schools were redistricted in 2012 and the central office moved from Lynch to Parkhurst to free up additional classrooms.

Continued enrollment growth has stressed the elementary schools since the opening of the Vinson-Owen school in 2013. Nixon said Winchesters student population from kindergarten through grade 12 has grown 5.2 percent since 2013, from 4,396 students to 4,623. Elementary school enrollment has risen 2.3 percent, from 2,105 to 2,135 students. Adding to the crunch is the success of the Specialized Learning Center programs, which has grown and taken up more classroom space. These programs were created to keep special education students in district as much as possible.

Enrollment projections

The potential arrival of large-scale affordable housing projects spurred the School Committee to update enrollment projections, Nixon said. The master plan working group has identified projects likely to be completed in the five and 10-year timeframe and is accounting for them in enrollment projections. It has also been tracking demolition permits to see how many demolitions of older homes "result in new bedrooms," Nixon said.

"We are looking under every stone because we dont want a bunch of surprises," he said.

At present, the working group projects an 11.2 percent rise, or 240 students between 2021 and 2022 in kindergarten through fifth grade, and another 58 students between 2026 and 2027. They project a 12.9 percent increase, or 147 sixth through eighth grade students in the five-year span, and an additional 28 by 2027. The number the schools will be using for their planning is 200 new units of housing in the next 20 years, Nixon said.

Physical plant

There are significant capital needs at Lynch and Muraco, Nixon said, and these were included in the SOI.

"At Muraco, were looking at $4 million to $4.5 million of priority capital work including replacing fire alarm systems, windows, flooring, the electrical system. If you look at all of Muracos needs over the next 10 years, the figure is closer to $22 million," he said.

The most urgent needs at Lynch are replacing the boiler and heating piping system and window replacement.

"It adds up," he said. "When you look at all of the needs, it is closer to $30 million 10 years out."

Nixon said the building needs and enrollment issues are behind the towns need to partner with the MSBA if it identifies Winchester as a town to support.

"We may be fortunate to see the MSBA to reimburse us one-third to 40 percent of the cost," he said. "Thats why it was important we submit the SOI before the window closed."

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Master plan will identify anticipated enrollment crunch - Wicked Local Winchester