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PTO President Responds to Letter in N. Andover Citizen

09/11/06

This fact based accounting is in response to a letter to the editor by
Jan Eagan published last week in the Citizen .

I was one of the primary parent representatives, along with Sandy Gleed, who
fought for building improvements and the A/C at the Thomson school. I have
listed a few facts I hope will help to clarify the reasons the Thomson
school required A/C. It is NOT an issue of frivolous spending but one
regarding health and safety.

The Thomson has about $220,000 remaining in the school building fund. This
money can NOT be spent on anything other than building based issues at the
Thomson. Only the High School and the Thomson remain under the control of
the School Building Committee (SBC). This is an important distinction
because this money is carefully controlled by MGL. It can NOT  be placed
into school or town funds. It may only be used to specifically address
Thomson building issues. This money is not part of  the proposition 2 1/2
cap. This is money from a debt exclusion over ride that was 2/3 refunded by
the state. To return the money would not decrease anyone's tax bill by more
than $10.00 annually...by my fuzzy math calculations, but could offer
significant cost savings in future building repairs and maintenance. The
original plan for Thomson school was to air condition the building. It was
built to be air conditioned. The A/C was not installed because of equity
concerns as every school in town did not have A/C. Is it wise to let
millions of tax dollars sink into the ground or grow mold because of water
and air quality issues that can be easily remedied?

For 7 years students and staff have experienced serious physical discomfort
from poor ventilation issues and overheating . Children and staff fainted,
mold grew, water seeped into classrooms.  For seven years the Thomson has
had such inadequate ventilation, that several areas have required air
conditioning...the library, the front office, the SPED classrooms and a
Kindergarten class. The other classes run about 2 large industrial fans to
attempt to cool things off. Often, the classes located on the 2nd floor
would be crammed into the library seeking some relief from the suffocating
heat.

For 7 years the issues were ignored by the 2 former Supt of schools and
sadly, though parents complained, we were ignorant for not complaing to the
right regulatory body...the SBC. We assumed the 2 former principals and
supt. made sure the issues were channeled to the proper persons. Sandy and I
have copies of parent letters and  7 years worth of meeting minutes from pto
and school council meetings to show the paper trail of complaints.

The Thomson was built on wetlands and was developing water based issues.
However, until Sandy and I brought the issue before the SBC there was no
plan to address the current water issues. The SBC was never informed that
building issues even existed. We asked that the drainage issues be addressed
and they were! The SBC has been quite responsive and adament that all issues
be promptly addressed.

A full evaluation of the ventilation issues showed that air was not even
being exchanged in many classes. The windows do not open far enough to
capture a breeze and the entire building is south facing which adds to the
issue by causing solar heat gain. Of note, there is not one shade tree on
the Thomson property.

For 6 months Sandy and I have attended SBC and school comm meetings. We
volunteered hours of our personnal time to attend these meetings and
research our concerns. It is mind boggeling that 1 person can send a letter
spewing anger and mistruth and cause good people to wonder what is going on!
I believe in expressing concerns and I often do so, but I always take the
time to carefully research and gather factual evidence before I make such
bold statements.

The cost of running a high efficiency A/C unit will probably be more
economical than running multiple small units or making the necessary repairs
to provide adequate ventilation to the Thomson. Even in the winter, the
school is brutally hot due to circulation and air quality issues. We  hope
to appreciate some cost savings for fuel in winter now that a full HVAC
overhaul has been completed. If the air quality is NOT improved, the town
can be forced to make the changes down the road and at that time, the 220k
at a 4% interest rate, may not be available! The funds have a time limit for
use that is mandated by the Commonwealth.

The Sargent (same architect as the Thomson) and Franklin schools have many
building issues that are not being addressed because there is no money to do
so. The current estimate to fix the Franklin roof is about 1million dollars.
It is a poor tax payer investment to allow school buildings to rott and fall
into decay. It is unsafe for our children. The costs down the road to fix
things will be staggering and will need to come from the already strained
and woefully inadequate school dept budget and town operating budget.
Frankly, the decision to address the Thomson issues while funds remain,
should be heralded as a wise and prudent use of tax payers money that will
save millions down the road, free up desperately needed dollars for quality
education for the children of North Andover and allow for building repairs
at the other schools in town.

Also of note is that equity comes in many packages. The Thomson is the most
underperforming school in the district at the present time...though we are
working hard to remedy that! We are also sustaining the largest class sizes
in the district. 4 classes of 37, 1 class of 30 and kindergarten classes of
24. We are in danger of violating building codes related to occupancy
limits. We have been forced to tolerate poor leadership in the front office
because the principal position was filled with a friend of friend.
Accountability was never an issue. With all the issues against us, couldn't
we at least have a physical environment that doesn't cause children and
staff to become ill?

In closing, I would like to let people know the entire 220k was not used
entirely for A/C. A fair amount of the funds were used to address the water
and drainage issues. The A/C issue is being overplayed because it's an
attention grabber. If people are really interetsed in more details related
to the Thomson building issues, I would encourage you to attend an SBC
meeting. The SBC meetings are held at the office of the Supt on 43 High
Street on the 2nd Thursday of each month at 6:30pm.

Dawn Crescitelli
Thomson PTO co-president

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The September, 2006 Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly Publication.
All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
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