Plans for Greenacres On Hold Due to District Finances and a Polarized Community

While a fierce debate over the future of the 101 year-old Greenacres School continues, Superintendent Thomas Hagerman and Assistant Superintendent Stuart Mattey have proposed a pause in the conversation. In a memorandum published in the agenda for the first Board of Education meeting of the school year on Monday September 12, Hagerman and Mattey say that Greenacres remains "safe" and "comfortable." In addition, an estimated $50 million in current and future work is necessary for the rest of the district and initial bids for work approved by taxpayers in a December 2014 bond have come in over budget. Given these cost constraints and a polarized community the memo says, "It does not make sense to forge ahead and ignore these realities."

The memo, on pages 156-157 of the Board of Education agenda says, "While we believe that both options (renovation of the existing building and construction of a new one) currently on the table have strengths ... we are also rather certain, that, in reality, they do not have the support needed to bring them to fruition."

An additional memo from Hagerman and Mattey, also to be read at the 9/12 meeting says that a new "Facilities Master Plan" is in progress and will be used as "the primary tool guiding all future plan improvement, capitol projects and future bond projects." It says that the projects approved in December, 2014 have been" repackaged" and a second set of bids is due back in early October.

If these bids are too high the "district will develop a plan to be move forward, taking into account the work that was previously approved by voters versus bond authorization limitations and in consideration of the facilities master plan."

So for now, it appears that the confluence of a shortage of funds for already approved work and persuasive and vehement arguments for and against a new building have stalled any movement on the aging and crowded school.