Jackson votes down school expansion, Whitney Center, 123-119

The vote: 119 for, 123 opposed.Voters sent school officials back to the drawing board Monday evening at annual Jackson School Meeting when they rejected a $4 million proposal to renovate the Jackson Grammar School, bringing it into compliance with state codes, and to create the Betty Whitney Community Center in the process. The warrant article (No. 1) dominated the night's discussion and attracted over 250 people who packed into an overcrowded town hall, which is designed to accommodate only 140 people.The article, which sought a $2.8 million bond to be paid over 20 years, required a two-thirds majority for passage. The proposal failed to garner even a simple majority with 119 people voting for the project and 123 opposing it. In order to pass with 242 voters, the vote needed to be 162-80."This is a wonderful school, and we have a wonderful staff," Angus Badger, chair of the Jackson School Board, said at the end of the two-and-a-half-hour meeting, speaking under "any other business." "I want to give our thanks to Anne (Kebler, school principal) and her staff for all they do. I'm sure it's not small stress for a community to be debating its facility. This article is not a referendum on how much this community values this school."School and town officials held extensive meetings over the past two years to review plans for the school plans that also include a Whitney Center, which aimed to provide municipal meeting and performance space for the school and town, and an expansion of the grammar school to comply with state education mandates.The current grammar school is about 5,000 square feet in size. Total new construction under the proposal would be about 9,200 square feet. Badger and his colleagues plan to schedule a meeting in early April to look at other facility options for the school.The majority of those who spoke during the 75-minute discussion leading up to the secret ballot vote talked in favor of the project."It modernizes our school," Badger said. "It will be a very good building, a very operational building. A building you will get for 50 cents on the dollar. ... If I were to sit down and design a building, I'm not sure I would come up with this design, but it is a good building."While the project cost an estimated $4 million, the Whitney Trust was going to contribute $1 million toward construction; the district was also eligible for 30 percent building aid from the state, bringing the commitment to taxpayers in at $1.9 million.Board member Peter Benson spoke in support of the project."I think this is the best alternative for our community," he said. "A lot of homework went into this."Fellow school board member Bob Thompson spoke against the project, saying he wanted more options explored."It's understandable why people felt it might be worth taking a look at, but since October 2005 we've had the architect tell us we are over-building on the site. ... I wish we had done due diligence at looking at all of the options so when you came here tonight you felt you were looking at all of the viable options."Thompson said the current needs of the school for space total 428 square feet, yet the proposal calls for 9,200 square feet."We only need less than 5 percent of what is being proposed," he said.Thompson said a school footprint committee had come up with a floor plan for space requirements at a cost of $843,000, which would include second-floor structural enhancements, making the building compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act; The floor plans also called for installing a sprinkler and fire alarm system, and adding on to the rear of the current building for office space.Principal Kebler has said there are academic needs for additional space in the school. In 2004, she said the school received conditional accreditation approval from the state because the school lacked space for special education meetings and did not provide heated meals."At the end of three years we are supposed to report we have met the recommendations," Kebler said. "We are now into our third year."In July 2005, Kebler said the school district learned it needs to provide a dedicated space for a nurse within the building.At present, art and music are held upstairs in the old wing of the school. Students must walk through two classrooms to get upstairs. Special ed and occupational therapy are also located in the same area as music and art, using a supply closet, while guidance services are provided out of a cloak room."If you're providing one-to-one instruction in math or reading three days a week, you are competing with a student learning how to play the piano or the drums," Kebler said.Bill Kelley, who served on the building committee, felt the proposal was the best way for the town to go."I would argue that this committee looked at a tremendous amount of options," he said. "We had a sub-committee with people traveling across the countryside. We looked at the $843,000 option on up to even an $8 million new school. This community can continue to look at this thing, and we could spend another three years looking at it, but we came up with a formal recommendation to the school board. It may not be the best one, but I don't know if we could get a group of people to bring a better plan forward for the town."Residents Emily Benson and Ann Bennett spoke about the positive side of having the Whitney Center. The recreation center's multi-purpose room could seat up to 200 for a community dinner or 350 people for a town hall meeting or a community play."The negative tone has been very discouraging," Bennett said. "I would ask people to go back to the intent of this gift, it was to be something positive for the town. If you don't like this project I would just encourage you to tell us what you can support."Resident Chris Bailey broke down the cost of the project into everyday terms. "It's 80 cents a day (over the 20-year bond period)," he said. "I spend $2 a day at Dunkin Donuts on my caffeine addition. ... I'm not looking for an adequate education for my three sons. I'm looking for a great education and I can get that for 80 cents a day."Resident Bob Temple opposed the article and suggested getting a portable classroom the one located at the current SAU 9 offices in North Conway and use that on the school site."We could use that for three to five years because in five years all of the kids will be gone," he said. "New, young people who move to this town have got to have a hell of a lot of money or not have any kids."The polls were open for an hour and then votes were counted. At 9:30 p.m., moderator Tim Scott read the results. The remaining four articles needed a total of 11 minutes to be acted on, and all were approved.They included Article 2, the school budget of $1,718,702, which was up from $1,375,532 last year. Chief among the reasons for the increase is a hike in regular education costs, primarily at the new Kennett High School for tuition. In 2006-07 citizens approved $808,167 for regular education costs. That figure jumps to $1,042,795 for 2007-08.The operation and maintenance of facilities, including the new high school, goes from $76,144 for this year to $131,408 for 2007-08.Article No. 3 sought $15,000 to be added to the capital reserve fund for school buses.Article 4 sought $100,000 be placed in the expendable general trust fund (School Building Maintenance Fund), which was established in 1996.Article 5 was a new three-year tuition contract with the Bartlett School District for Jackson seventh and eighth grade students to attend school at Josiah Bartlett Elementary School.