[Music]
hello it's chip mcgee
superintendent of schools here in the
pelham school district welcome to the
pelham school district today
october 2020 edition today we have a
great topic
we're going to be looking at pelham
memorial schools renovations and
upgrades
um and i am delighted uh because in her
first
official act back here from maternity
leave is stacy
mahakian um principal at uh pelham
memorial school
and uh most importantly i want to ask so
how's
chelsea doing she's perfect yeah my
beautiful little girl yeah and
sleeping through the night and not at
all
[Laughter]
well i'm glad that uh you've got enough
rest to be here
absolutely yeah and uh so we're gonna be
talking about
uh the plan and i first just want to
acknowledge
uh i kind of wish we weren't having the
conversation because
i wish we were well underway with the
construction project
but uh didn't pass last march
um and uh and so we're planning on
bringing it forward it's working its way
through the
the school board and eventually the
budget committee now to see if
it'll be on the warrant um but it's
still something really important to us
and uh we've got our posters here i was
wondering if you could just
kind of walk us through the general plan
as it stands for what are what are the
renovations that memorial needs and what
would we get out of this project
sure sure hello everybody i'm happy to
be back for today
um so when we looked at our plans we
looked at our
basic needs and our basic needs right
now we have portables as you're aware
and we have space issues and so
what this plan does is it brings us up
to 21st century learning
we look at our spaces our steam
program making sure that we have
integrated band
into the building as well as our library
music and health programs making our
library of that
central area so kiddos can have that
common learning area and
that is what our our structure does
so it keeps the core of our current
building and it expands it
so so as the newcomer just to clarify
this isn't
not the whole building down start again
no no
so it's renovating our existing building
and adding to it
so what we would do is um you can kind
of see
um our current building is right here
this long portion
and then this hallway and then this
right here is our
is our gymnasium the current gym the
current gym
okay so um this
kind of little u shape and then what we
are adding on
is an entirely new entryway
and we are transitioning things right
now this is our cafeteria
it's going to turn into our learning
commons or our library so the cafeteria
becomes the library
yep and then this right here is our
gymnasium and if you've ever been into
our gymnasium for any sporting events or
um concerts or plays or anything you
will see that is very
very cramped in there tight and
also pretty unsafe when it comes to
sporting events so this will
and the lighting too you can this is our
windows
so if you've ever been to a volleyball
event
we do very well because we know the
lighting
but it's very hard to see so this will
actually change into our cafeteria
and to give in some of that natural
lighting they've made a window here
to make sure that we can get some
natural light for the kids during
during our lunch period so and then
back here is where we will
are proposing our addition and this big
portion right here is our stage and our
gymnasium which will be
regulation size it will definitely fit
the capacity of all of our students
we can have concerts and plays and
sporting events that we can house a
great deal more people
so that will be wonderful so if i look
at the other drawing the one for the top
view
is it that the light blue is current
yes and the dark blue is all the stuff
that would be added
absolutely what are the three little
little boxes to the left then there's
those three boxes out there so like like
you said chip this is
our current building right here so
um gymnasium cafeteria hallway and then
these are all of our classrooms
upstairs and downstairs these kind of
outlets
yeah are going to be our science labs
oh okay so science labs and
collaboration spaces
so right now our teachers don't have
very many
spaces to collaborate work together or
even do small group instruction
so number one our science spaces so
we'll have a science
lab that's up to code and um that we can
do
so many different things with
experiments and activities with the kids
and then we have an outlet for the
teachers and
small groups to have on that side so the
larger portion is definitely that
science lab classroom
the smaller portion is the collaboration
and then
all the classrooms in between that
you'll see over here are also going to
be renovated and expanded
to to meet our needs for the students
so um one of the things that did come up
in our conversations
um last year was um
is this an expandable building so
if our population starts to skyrocket
are we going to be able to
accommodate that need absolutely so we
will be able to renovate some spaces
so you can see over here the orange
is classrooms areas and on the other
side you'll see some resource spaces
so we would be able to transition those
spaces
um as necessary for any expansion in
our our needs due to increase in
population gives us some flexibility
absolutely so when you think long term
this is not a short-term solution this
is a very long-term solution for the
town of pelham
i'm going to interject one thing there
um that you just made me
may think of and this is really a
district thing
having to do with fifth grade i know
that uh
last year there was a lot of discussion
about
what to do with fifth grade that's
currently at pelham elementary
and is there still space at pelham
elementary and i just want to
so i'm going to share something i've
been able
this summer to do summer and fall
we had a capacity study completed for
pelham elementary
and it's very helpful for a lot of
things but as a bottom line i was able
to find out that
even if someday in the future
we have full day kindergarten which
would expand our classroom needs
at pelham elementary we can still keep
fifth grade there um and
and have have enough space which means
this project
um i it went back and forth but uh
won't have fifth grade in it um
uh we're not we're not going to have
that as a as an
add-on here the good news for
the community uh more broadly is that
that we have
we have enough space uh with this
flexible plan
and with pella elementary and so it's a
win-win
in that uh that keeps the cost down of
the overall project
perfect so one of the things i want to
ask you about that you know a lot about
is traffic so i have been introduced to
some of the challenges of traffic at
pelham memorial school and i'm told
that this might address it but could you
just walk us through how
uh how traffic flow would look different
for those people who try and get down
marsh road at the start of the day or
the end of the day so i am coming late
to the game and i understand there's
been
you know with an increase of the amount
of cars that we have going in but
in a typical sense um what we've done
um to design is have two different lanes
right now
um the bus lane and the car lanes
end up coinciding especially at the end
of the day and the beginning of the day
we actually use
the pelham elementary loop and at the
end of the day
we park everybody into our um
back blacktop area so this
very much alleviates that and it
alleviates a lot of the safety concerns
that are in there because all those
buses are kind of lined up in different
areas and you're crossing through so um
it's it's uh the kids are resilient and
they
and they get to their bus safely
thankfully but you know it's all you
know we always cringe at the end of the
day when everyone's
running out the door so this is um
the bus loop that's going to come around
the back of the building
and it will be bus drop off in front of
the
cafeteria and the gymnasium so this will
also be the pickup area
as well so so the buses go up and around
the back yep they come up and around the
back and you can see and then the
the picture the buses are going to be
right here
so on this side is we still use this is
the pelham elementary parking lot we'll
still use this
this loop to for some of the um
overflow but we will be able to have our
parent cars come in through this way so
once the buses come off the parent cars
can come in and
we will have a definitely a less of a
backup on marsh road that always happens
at the end of the day
and at the beginning of the day um so we
will be able to utilize that and
alleviate a lot of those traffic
patterns
so that would be that would be good news
for people trying to get down marsh road
yeah absolutely during uh school start
and end
yeah and if you've ever dropped off in
the middle school you can
we drop off right here on this line
and then what will change is the parking
area for teachers
we drop off on this line and you know
15 feet away is where the teachers park
so we're crossing teachers through that
line
yes they will still need to cross
through but at least we have a walkway
and we have a separation so it's much
more visible
that will definitely help that situation
too to have that separation
and be able to see a little better
because we have a lot of cars that like
to
to fly to work we know how that goes
yeah so what about um uh you had
mentioned before
steam space uh banned in the gymnasium
but could you
could you talk to us particularly about
uh the band space
where that will be and and what you'll
be able to do with it sure
um so right now um i'm not sure if
everyone knows what we have banned in a
very large portable
it's it's a very nice space but actually
those portables
are they part of this plan no they will
be eliminated because of this
plan so um right now those portables
um for those that don't know is the
kiddos have to
exit the building back here and
the portables are in this area right
here and when they exit the building
it's
free rain the the open air they can go
anywhere they're exposed
basically teachers have to open the door
the portables are locked for safety and
security but
that space there is not a safe area so
um in this plan you can see that there's
a corridor
um a little gray corridor through there
okay
that's going to be enclosed it's going
to be another safety area it's in a
traffic flow pattern um so and then
you'll see
the band in the top um it's yellow
yeah nice yellow here yeah so there's a
band with some practice space as it
looks like
yep one of the things that's a big room
it's huge and we have a big band and
it's wonderful
and it'll have practice areas it'll have
a storage area
and a space for our teacher so
before we got the portable we had the
band inside the building and
um and it was actually in that classroom
up in the top right
and um upstairs downstairs within two or
three classrooms
you could hear the band and it was um
very much adjustable
makes so much noise yeah practice
and love it yeah practices and um
full group um practice and it was
that we have a wonderful band but it can
be a disruption to the instructional
environment so
putting them out in that portal was
great in this situation
we have the band in that back corner
and it'll be soundproofed on either side
you'll have the music room
then we have that practice room that
will be abutting the health room
all sound proofed so it will not be a
disturbance to the other instructional
environments
around and they will have a wonderful
space to be able to do
their practice plus when we get to the
point of having our concerts
they are right there they can cross the
hallway and they'll have the stage the
gym
they can um set up as they um as they
need to
so it's it's a it would be a wonderful
addition so the gym is going to have a
stage in it
yes so you see the large gym and we're
going to have bleachers that will be
able to house
um several of our students i can't
remember the exact number that they said
and then the stage right across and then
there's a storage area for
um the gymnasium we also have lockers
for the gymnasium so
it'll be um it'll be great yeah so so i
have one other question about the
about the design that i know you um
you're just
really familiar with and has to do with
this picture here
so this is a rendering of what the
entrance
would look like given the design and
this is all from last year
we'll talk about tweaks in a minute but
um just to just tell us about
what it would mean to have an entrance
that looks like this
as opposed to what you have now so
i think when we started
we have a new engine entryway in our in
our current building
and that was for safety and security
this i think even
more so does it has the design of safety
and security
it also has a very welcoming environment
so
when i first came to pelham almost eight
years ago
i walked in full rain to the building
and
what was in front of me was lost and
found
so when when you walk into a building
you get an impression
and this will be making an impression it
will be welcoming it will be warm it
will be open
and and bright and
obviously safety and secure you'll have
those steps of walking in and being able
to be checked in
it will be right next to our office area
that will be um
butting those safety doors
it's just uh
how you want to enter a building yeah
yeah it uh it just from the rendering
here
strikes me as the sort of place that uh
you know where the front entrance is and
it just would
welcome you right in to be part of the
uh part of the community
so do you have any questions for me i do
um so
you know i've been out for a little
while and i know you've had some
meetings
and um with uh this not passing
um obviously i know there's some
some probably some cost scenarios that
have happened
that have come up that um say hey we
can't get the same
bang for our buck so what's what's
what's
what's up yeah so so uh
cost is something i think we need to i
appreciate you asking because we really
need to make sure we're
thoughtful about it um and
uh there's no mincing words when it
comes to money
so the warrant article last year
was for 30.8 million dollars so that's
30 million dollars
800 000 and
all things being equal to do the exact
same project uh a year later there's
inflation
and we've been working with a
our owner project manager
who have both an architect
and a construction firm looking at
prices
and cost of construction
from last year to this year is likely
well
they estimate up uh uh not quite
five percent um uh but five percent of
yeah is is a lot of money um and so in
order to do the exact
same project because we've now we're now
going to have to have waited a year
it's simply going to cost more and so
it's not before the board yet that's
going to happen
on october 22nd
so next wednesday is where the board's
going to be
begin putting together this warrant
article for what the total cost would be
but they're going to have some decisions
to make having to do with
so the cost has increased because costs
go up over the course of the year
and are there any things of these nice
features that you were just walking
through
that could be adjusted down
in order to keep the cost close to where
it was
but i need to be upfront that when costs
go up
we either need to allow for that to get
the same project as designed a year ago
or take some things out that we simply
would have to
go without and a lot of that is still
to be determined but i think having in
mind that it's going to be five percent
more if we want to do the same
project that's one of the things that
happens when you when you don't get
after
a project right away the other thing i
want to mention
is um so for the last two weeks i've
worked with
the renovations upgrade committee so
we've kind of brought that back to life
there's community members and staff
administrators and we are supported by
the construction company our owner rep
and architecture firm
who are giving us information about this
project and they have been
incredible in terms of just prioritizing
what are some of the features that we
might
want to think through and you mentioned
one we that we were just talking about
yesterday
when you pointed out there's those
windows in the current gym
uh and they're south facing windows so
they just get pounded
right and you've got bright light coming
in the question is what do we want to do
in terms of window design on the new gym
where do we want them and are there
places that we could
uh take out what was in last year's
design uh to save some money
and still have it be okay and we're just
we're
we're talking about that all over the
building to see if there are places
um uh just to see if there's a
possibility of of keeping that increase
uh in check and what the community wants
we're trying to find that balance
so um stay tuned on cost it'll uh
um it'll be a tough set of decisions we
need to make to find the right price to
get
the renovations we really need
and at the most cost effective level
yeah very good so um
what about uh next steps for
communication
and um how are we getting the word out
yeah yeah so i think probably uh
the biggest responsibility i'm gonna
have
um is uh communication um so
the the renovations and upgrade
committee has been fantastic to get the
ideas together
the next step is it goes to the board
and the board needs to just
figure out price warrant article and
those big design specifications
that that need to be in place and then
from there
i'm really going to need to ask for
support from community groups
who are willing to um share the message
explain what's going on it's it's one of
the reasons that i wanted to do this
actually
is i can just straight say i'll look in
the camera is there anyone
who wants us to do a presentation about
about the school we'd love to come out
on road shows
anywhere um we can do video chat or
we can come face to face socially
distance however you'd like to do it
um and um i think we're going to need
community
groups that that are on board with
this um and want to support it um
helping us with signs and mailings and
um just communicating about what it is
uh
uh that uh that what it is we would get
out of this
um you know you talked about band you
talked about
a welcoming space you talked about those
science
labs upgrades there's a huge
instructional opportunity here
um how we're going to do it and we
really i i think
having come into uh pelham there's a
very
cost-effective approach that we're using
here with uh
an owner's project manager who is going
to just
advocate for us to save everywhere we
can once the construction gets going
and and then the why of of this project
too i want to make sure we
that gets communicated which is you know
so i drive
as i come in i go past uh sherburne hall
um and i come down and and it it
feels really good those three schools um
and my little office kind of tucked in
the back there
and uh the elementary school's in great
shape
and it's it's a beautiful building
the high school has a gorgeous
renovation done especially
putting that new new facility right out
in front just looks great
um and memorial while a great place
um is needs to become the kind of third
gem in that crown and needs to be
the sort of institution that really
represents what we want uh pelham
uh pelham school district to be and um
uh so i know there's gonna be a ton of
questions um but i i hope that
anyone who wants to hear about it will
reach out to either of us
um and uh anyone who wants to get
involved in helping support this
reach out directly to me and i'll uh
i'll coordinate it
so that's that's the communication plan
and and
we'll get out to march and
that's when we'll have the vote okay
sounds wonderful yep it would be a
beautiful thing we have
wonderful staff wonderful students a
wonderful community
it would be great to have a wonderful
building yes that's right that's right
well thank you and welcome back i'm
really happy to have you back
happy to be here back on board all right
well so that was uh pelham school
district today october 2020 edition
thank you and see you in november
you