This Week's Winchendon News
Tri-Board Meeting Hears Detailed Presentation on School Repair Project
Town Manager Bill McKinney, Board of Selectmen, School Committee and FinCom listen to Greg Walsh on Zoom
Image copyright Town of Winchendon
At the joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee and School Committee on Thursday, February 5, members of the three boards heard a presentation on the repairs to be made to Memorial School, Toy Town Elementary and Murdock Middle High School, utilizing a reimbursement program from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).
The project was brought before the School Committee about a year ago, by then-Superindent Dr. Marc Gosselin. It has been proceeding over the past year, but was somewhat overshadowed last spring by the attention given to Winchendon's critical budget deficit and the passage of the Proposition 2-1/2 override.
Article 21 on the 2025 Annual Town Meeting warrant asked voters to approve borrowing $200,000 for a feasability study and schematic design for repairs to the roofs of all three buildings and window replacement at Memorial, along with other improvements. The School Committee had spoken to state Senator Jo Comerford about getting an "earmark" from the state budget funds for cities and towns from excess Fair Share amendment revenue to pay for the study. This one-time revenue amount would come from the so-called "Millionaires' Tax" in Massachusetts. As of Town Meeting, the earmark had not yet been confirmed, but in June, 2025, Gov. Healey signed the supplemental budget bill including the earmarks. (See "Senator Comerford Secures Hoped-For Earmark for Winchendon Public Schools to Fund School Building Repair Feasibility Study" in the
June 26-July 3, 2025 edition of the Winchendon Courier (scroll down).)
At the Finance Committee's hearing on the ATM warrant on April 29, there was a long discussion of the rationale for taking advantage of the MSBA reimbursement program and not letting the buildings continue to deteriorate. (See "FinCom Public Hearing on Annual Town Meeting Warrant Includes Long Debates on Schools, Capital Spending" in the
May 8-May 15, 2025 edition of the Winchendon Courier (scroll down).)
Voters at Town Meeting approved article 21 with 81 percent in favor, 19 percent opposed.
On February 5, boards heard the results of the feasability study the earmark paid for. Superintendent Charlotte King introduced the presentation, saying, "The MSBA is the state agency that helps communities fund major school building improvements. On February 25 the MSBA will vote on whether to invite Winchendon into the Accelerated Repair Program. This vote is critical, because entering the program gives us access to a reimbursement rate of 77.53 percent, meaning the state would cover more than three quarters of the cost of the needed building repairs.
"Why is this so important? Because three of our schools--Memorial Elementary, Toy Town Elementary and Murdock Middle High School, have significant infrastructure needs. Roofs at each building are at or beyond their useful life, and we're now seeing active leaks and moisture issues. Memorial's windows and doors are fifty years old, causing energy loss and security concerns. At Toy Town, the existing chair lift no longer functions, leaving us out of compliance with ADA accessibility requirements. If we don't move forward with this program, these repairs will still need to be made, but the town will be responsible for 100 percent of the cost. If we are not accepted or choose not to proceed, it could be another 10 years before Winchendon is considered for this opportunity again."
If Winchendon is invited to participate in the program, the next steps would be a Special Town Meeting vote and a ballot vote as part of the annual Town Election on May 4. Construction would begin in summer of 2027.
Supt. King gave the floor to Greg Walsh, Project Director and Michael Ulichney, Project Manager for the project, from PCA360, and Jason Knutson, architect for the project from CGKV Architects, who all joined the meeting via Zoom.
Mr. Walsh began the presentation by explaining that the MSBA partially funds new school buildings and accelerated repair projects such as a roof and window replacements. The Accelerated Repair Program (ARP) focuses on preserving existing school buildings with energy-efficient and cost-saving upgrades (such as roof, windows and heat pumps) as an alternative to new construction. It will also cover required ADA (accessibility) upgrades. As the name suggested, ARP projects are speedy, typically being completed over a single summer recess. Funding is based on a "wealth factor" for towns, and Winchendon is eligible for 77.53 percent.
Mr. Walsh summarized the repairs needed at each school--all of the schools' roofs are more than 29 years old, he said, and the windows at Memorial School are 50 years old. "At the Toy Town Elementary School, we'll be replacing the roof, and then we'll be also doing a series of ADA upgrades, which also will include the installation of a new elevator that will connect all the levels of the schools and provide accessible path to travel. At the Memorial Elementary School, we're going to be doing a new roof. We're also going to be placing windows and doors, and there are also ADA compliance requirements at that school, although they're mostly related to physical conditions and doors that need to be adjusted for path to travel, bathrooms that need to be upgraded to be accessible, and other less extensive things than an elevator. And then the last is the Murdock Middle High School, where we're just going to be doing a roof replacement."
He added, "The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a law 521 CMR, which dictates that if the cost of construction improvements to an existing building exceeds 30 percent of its assessed value, then the entire building has to be brought up to full current accessibility, which is why we're going to be doing an elevator at the Toy Town School, in addition to lots of other accessible upgrades as well."
Mr. Knutson then took the floor to explain in careful detail, with photographs, the current conditions they had found at the buildings, including inside and underneath the roof surface, and explaining the full scope of the work involved in repairing all of the problems. Beginning with Town Town, Mr. Knutson said that it was originally built around 1960 as the new Winchendon Junior Senior High School, has a roof last replaced around 1997. The roof is ponding water and leaking; surfaces are weathering; insulation is insufficient; internal components are separating; and debris from the original roof is still inside the newer roof. The entire roof will be replaced and upgraded to be solar-ready--that is, able to support an array of solar panels on the roof at a future time. In addition to the roof, the existing lift will be replaced, and ADA compliant improvements will be made to bathrooms, doorway thresholds, cabinet heights and similar areas.
The total projected budget for Toy Town is calculated at $8,872,666, with $6,878,978 reimbursable by MSBA and $2,485,697 covered by the town.
Memorial School was originally built around 1975, Mr. Knutson said, and the current roof, they estimate, was installed around 1996. Memorial will also get a completely new roof, to correct similar issues as those at Toy Town as well as make the roof solar-ready. Mr. Knutson's presentation also included numerous photos of the problems with Memorial's windows, including corroded frames and water condensation between the double panes. The windows will be replaced. Memorial will receive some ADA upgrades, including an elevator.
The total projected budget for Memorial is calculated at $11,029,086, with $8,550,850 reimbursable by MSBA and $3,072.645 covered by the town.
Finally, Murdock Middle High School was constructed around 1994-95, Mr. Knutson told the boards. It has the original roof, which is quite complicated compared to the roofs of the elementary schools. It will be completely replaced with solar-ready enhancements.
The total projected budget for Murdock is calculated at $6,530,821, with $5,063,346 reimbursable by MSBA and $1,818,049 covered by the town.
The budgets have a 10 percent contingency amount baked into the totals. Mr. Walsh explained, "This is a very conservative in the sense that we are trying to protect the interest of the town, the interest of the voters, by carrying a 10 percent contingency on both (hard and soft costs). We're quite confident that those will cover any unforeseen conditions or issues that might arise that would be an increase to the cost of the project...this is really intended to be very conservative and not need us to ever come back to the town and request additional funding for this project. In fact, it's our hope that we would not use nearly this much contingency. But again, it's to be conservative and to never have to come back to the town with a second task on the project."
The total budgeted cost for all three projects together is calculated at $26,432,573, with $20,493,174 reimbursable by MSBA and $7,376,391 covered by the town, with a contingency allowance of $1,436,992.
Mr. Knutson explained how paying for it all works: "The full total project budget, which we just discussed, would need to be appropriated and funded by the town, and then the invoices to be paid through that fund. And then after that point, we would request reimbursement from the MSBA. We do this on a monthly basis. I need to supply the warrant numbers and dates and invoices, and then there'd a review, and all eligible costs would be reimbursed at that 77 percent."
Mr. Walsh added, "The MSBA is a Pay As You Go program...the MSBA requires that the town appropriate the full $27 million even though it's anticipated that the MSBA is going to pay 77 percent of that. That's because the MSBA's program is what they call a grant program, meaning that the MSBA can decide, if we were to do something that didn't comply with their rules, then they could alter their grant funding."
If the town decides not to move forward with with the ARP program, Mr. Walsh said, all three building roofs are expected to fail within the next five years (all of them are leaking now) and the town will be responsible for 100 percent of the cost of replacing them. It typically takes 10 years for a district that has opted out to be accepted into the program again.
School Committee member Greg Vine asked if the leaking roofs had caused any current issues such as mold or rotting ceiling tiles. Mr. Walsh said the schools have done a good job dealing with leaks quickly, and they saw no signs of mold. Toy Town actually doesn't have ceiling tiles, the ceilings are the bottom of the roof deck.
The projects will be presented to voters as three separate warrant articles, and voters can appropriate funding for them separately. If all three are not approved, the MSBA will participate in those schools where the appropriation was passed, Mr. Walsh said. In answer to more questions requesting clarification, Mr. Walsh said that asbestos remediation, if necessary, is included in the budgeted amounts.
The boards asked some further questions about solar options for the roofs (in the future) and whether solar panels might help offset some of the costs of the repairs. There was also some discussion about the bidding process for contractors, which would take place in the fall if the projects move forward.
School Committee member Karen Kast asked if there were any safety hazards for students or staff with the buildings in their current condition. Mr. Walsh and Mr. Knutson did not think there were "imminent" hazards, but if the roofs were allowed to continue deteriorating, issues from water leaks such as electrical shorts were a possibility.
Mr. Vine asked if there had been a study on the energy impact of the repairs and whether the district would see a reduction in heating and cooling costs. Mr. Knutson replied that there had not been a formal student or energy modeling done, but replacing the current two inches of insulation with six to eight inches, and replacing all the leaky windows at Memorial with triple-glazed thermal windows would undoubtedly make a big difference. Mr. Vine also asked if the new windows, which can be opened, would represent a falling hazard for kids, and Mr. Knutson said the windows can be set to only open a certain amount and should not be a hazard.
(The entire presentation and discussion may be watched on WinchendonTV at https://winchendon.cablecast.tv/internetchannel/show/346?site=1 ("Joint School, Finance, and Selectmen Meeting 02-05-26 pt. 1").)
Following a short recess, the three boards continued discussing the funding for the project.
School Committee Chair Mike Barbaro began with a statement that this was their first crack at putting information out for the public and offering some initial numbers on what the project would cost taxpayers. There would be information sessions around town and other ways of sharing what the project's scope is, why it's needed and so on.
Town Manager Bill McKinney then offered some basic numbers on the cost. The amount would be borrowed, so it would need to pass as a Proposition 2-1/2 debt exclusion. A debt exclusion increases the maximum tax levy temporarily--after the debt is paid off, the increase is removed. This means that the town would be looking to balance paying off the loan faster with not having to raise the tax levy too much. Mr. McKinney explained, "The net cost to the town is potentially about $7.4 million, so using an aggressive timeline, we could borrow for 20 years, we could borrow for 30 years. We could do level debt, we could do level principal. There's different ways to do it, but both aggressive and probably most cost effective would be the 20 years of level principal.
"So what that means is that on $7.4 million that the total cost would be 10 and a half million dollars to the town, and the tax rate, which is currently $12.69, that would add 48 cents. So basically it's about 3.77 percent would be an increase to the taxes as they are now...at [a home assessed for] $400,000 that would equate to an extra $191 per year."
With level principal, Mr. McKinney said, you're paying down the same amount of principal every month, so it reduces the amount of interest you pay over the life of the loan.
The key point to understand is that voters will need to approve to appropriate, and authorize spending, the full cost of the project(s), in order to comply with the MSBA's requirements. But the town will only borrow the amount that is not reimbursed by MSBA. Taxpayers will only need to cover the amount that is actually borrowed, not the amount that is appropriated at Town Meeting. Because all the work will be completed in the space of a few months, the town will know exactly what is needed very quickly.
The MSBA requires that the town assemble a building committee specifically for the project. The boards discussed some of the qualifications members of that building committee would need to have.
It was brought up that once these buildings are repaired or improved through the MSBA program, they must be used as school buildings for at least 20 more years. The MSBA will not, for example, pay for a new roof for a building that is retired and repurposed for something else three years later. This segued into the topic of possible regionalization down the line with a neighboring community. Would Winchendon be left with empty school buildings with shiny new roofs that couldn't be used for anything else?
Board of Selectmen member Erika Eitland said, "I would like us to also have an open dialog, perhaps, about the fact that we have a smaller student body than our buildings have capacity for. Do we need three buildings? It's really an important question, because if we're looking at Toy Town Elementary, where there's over $9 million of this total cost. It has greater energy consumption compared to Memorial. It has more heating oil needs than Memorial. It doesn't have a generator for backup power. It has the smallest cafeteria and library compared to the other schools. And we are also seeing the fact that it doesn't have that solar potential that the other two buildings have. So to me, and also acknowledging that Toy Town was built for older students, even from the first place, so it was never totally designed for these types of students. I feel that there's an opportunity here where, and again, this is, maybe this won't stick, but I feel like consolidating our school buildings to two buildings is like an internal regionalization."
In 20 years, Toy Town will be an 85-year-old building, Ms. Eitland went on. It will continue to have issues and shortcomings, and it's a workplace for employees as well as a school for students. She urged the boards to think about the facilities master plan. Should the town be looking primarily at Memorial and Murdock for this project?
Supt. King said, "I think there was a feasibility study, very informal, done last year, and we looked at, could we combine the two elementary schools? And it was just not feasible with the spaces that we have to combine the two at this time. And I think our lower class sizes are at the high school level, and we need to still be offering the amount of classes that we're offering, to give kids a suitable transcript to move on post graduation...we had to add a kindergarten class last year based on enrollment. I think our lower enrollment is at the secondary level, not at the elementary level, which is part of the space issue." Also, she added, that state is moving toward requiring universal preschool, so the district might have to add those classes in the future.
Ms. Kast added that there are very specific legal spacing requirements for students in schools at different ages and in different kinds of classes, and the district couldn't meet those requirements with just two buildings. It's not as simple as measuring raw square feet and calculating how many chairs will fit in it. Every learning environment has rules for physical space. Special needs students need even more space.
The board members agreed that several important topics were being floated, and the most important issue was making a decision about the MSBA program itself and repairing the buildings the town has before things become more critical. Mr. Barbaro promised to send Ms. Eitland the space capacity study done by the previous superintendent showing how and why the spaces were used the way they currently are.
Regarding past discussions of school building uses:
At the School Committee meeting on December 20, 2022, then Superintendent Thad King presented a detailed proposal to reorganize the school buildings and create an Early Childhood Literacy Center with only Pre-K and K classes in Toy Town Elementary, while grades 1 through 12 would be split between Memorial and Murdock. The School Committee voted to approve the proposal at their meeting on January 19, 2023. The proposal was controversial, and Mr. King withdrew the proposal in June, 2023. His lengthy initial presentation included analyses of the buildings' current and proposed populations and uses. His Powerpoint may be seen here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x65y6KORDcvWEnCzJeSv7Q6FViPSweXx/view?fbclid=IwAR0nocMIDQ3tN2pSuGVO2l4ooL62-sUIDI6Fmti6mHufrsZs75xl4F5Qhrk
and the video of the meeting may be seen on YouTube, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMjjX3O8oC8&t=521s.
For more details, see "Proposal to Reorganize Schools Evokes Concerns and Questions" in the
January 5-January 12, 2023 edition of the Winchendon Courier (scroll down)
and
"School Committee Approves Proposal to Create Early Childhood Literacy Center and Shift Grades Among Schools" in the
February 2-February 9, 2023 edition of the Winchendon Courier.
FOLLOW-UP:
At the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Monday, February 9, the Board decided not to set a date for a Special Town Meeting to place the MSBA Project before voters. As with all Proposition 2-1/2 override questions, this requires two votes. The authorization to appropriate and spend the budget amount is held at a Town Meeting, and since this one is contingent on borrowing, it requires a two-thirds (2/3) majority to pass. The question to approve overriding Proposition 2-1/2 and raising the levy limit is a ballot vote at the polls and requires a simple majority to pass. The Board agreed that there didn't seem to be a reason to spend the money on an extra Town Meeting or ballot vote when both votes could be incorporated into the annual Town Election and Annual Town Meeting. This can be re-considered later if it seems necessary.
Beals Memorial Library Plans "Community Conversations"
J Lillie and Patti Stanko address the BOS
Image copyright Town of Winchendon
At the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Monday, February 9, Patti Stanko, long-time staff member at the Beals Memorial Library and J Lillie, member of the Friends of the Beals Memorial Library, came forward to introduce the library's upcoming series of open community discussions, titled "Bridging Ideas and Building Futures." These will be held monthly from February through May.
"I have flyers with me, which I'm glad to pass out to the Select Board, and we will have information at the library and all around town," Ms. Stanko said. "And we're going to be just talking about "community"--what it means, how people can get involved in the town, addressing issues that have been facing the town over the last couple of years, and see where we go from there. We're inviting everybody to come, any age. If someone's in high school or younger, we would appreciate their participation as well. So they're going to be on a Saturday morning from 10:00 to 12:00 at at the library [at 50] Pleasant Street."
Asked if registration was required, Mr. Lillie said, "People can just show up. However, there will be information on both the library Facebook page and on partnering websites like Cornerstone Church, and people will be able to sign up and let us know that they're coming or that they're attending the event.
"This sort of springs out of the Hey, Kiddo conversations that we were part of a few years ago, and carrying on in that spirit. We were able to get a CHNA9 grant, which allowed us to hire a mediator to come in and mediate and process after these conversations with the citizens of the town. Our goal is to bring out about 50 people intergenerationally, and that way to have a conversation around the idea of, 'what is community to you?' 'What do we want our community to look like?' And then 'what do we have to do to get there?' And 'what are we willing to pay, or what the cost of that?' And we're hoping to create, through the mediated conversation, some form of action steps that we maybe can take to move forwards towards the community that we are beginning to say we want to have. We've made some marvelous strides in the last few years, and I'd love to see those continue."
As Board Chair Andrew Beauvais noted, there are four sessions, all from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., each with a different topic.
Saturday, February 28, "What Does the Word Community Mean to You?"
Saturday, March 28, "Wo Do We Want to be as a Community?"
Saturday, April 25, "Hopw Do We Build the Community We Want to Live In?"
Saturday, May 16, "What Are we Prepared to Do to Become the Community We Want to Be?"
Board member Erika Eitland said, "I would also like to invite Patti and J back after those sessions to have a bit of a report out, so that we have the synthesis for how it might help guide us in our conversations, knowing that the Board of Selectmen is responsible for helping make that a reality for us. So if you would mind coming back in June or July, it'd be wonderful to have you." Ms. Stanko and Mr. Lillie said they would love to do that. Ms. Stanko added that their third partner in organizing the conversations is Beals Memorial Library Trustee Jane LaPointe, who wasn't able to be there that night.
(For more details, see the entries on each date in the Community Connector calendar, below, or the Beals website page at www.bealslibrary.org/converstations)
Whose Big Fat Greek Wedding Will It Be? MMHS Cast Sings Our Hearts Out with "Mamma Mia!"
Photos copyright Winchendon Schools Music Department
(Swiped from Facebook because none of my photos came out)
On Friday, February 6 and Saturday, February 7, Murdock Middle High School presented a rolicking, energetic and colorful production of the rock musical "Mamma Mia!" Built around hit songs by the 1970s Swedish singing group ABBA--one of the most internationally popular pop groups in history--"Mamma Mia!" tells the story of 19-year-old Sophie, her never-married mom, Donna, and the great mystery of their lives: who is Sophie's real father?
Although the Murdock musicals epitomize "less is more" with their clever minimalist set design--always utilizing a raised platform to the rear of the stage, one set of steps, backdrops and various small movable set pieces--set designers Ari Dibble and Kristi Iannacone outdid themselves this time. The "Mamma Mia!" set, representing entrepreneurial Donna's hotel that she operates on a present-day Greek island, all but dropped the audience onto the shore of the Aegean. Dazzling white walls dripped with cascading vines and flowers, and the ever-present steps were decorated to resemble a tiled set of steps from the hotel to the beach. When the lights went up for the first time, I gasped. With very few changes, the stage became the hotel bar, the beach, Donna's and Sophie's bedrooms, a church with pews and even a brief nightmare.
The choreography, by Kaileen and Ari Dibble, was well designed and well-performed, and made it clear how hard the entire cast worked. There was a lot of nostalgic 70s disco feel to the steps and arm movements, but at one point the ensemble joined arms in a Greek wedding circle dance. "Choreography" is more than typical dancing, as well--the ensemble had a lot of very funny business during solo numbers, poking their heads out from behind the flies at the sides or appearing from behind set pieces to sing back-up to the leads. The cast was constantly in motion and everyone seemed to have some business whenever they were visible, all of it weaving together into a cohesive whole. At the same time, it never got too confusing (something I can't say about some Broadway shows). The ensemble cast were all great.
The leads did an excellent job. Brooke Arsenault as Sophie and Doris Huggins as Donna were the two foundations of the show, and both held up their roles impressively. Equally strong vocalists, they knocked the audience's socks off in their solo numbers. But they were most affecting in their scene together on the wedding morning when Sophie asks Donna to help her dress in her wedding gown. Honestly? I wasn't the only one blinking back tears in that scene.
Luke Smith as Harry Bright, Colton Pearson as Bill Austin, and Jack Varca as Sam Carmichael--the would-be, might-be, wanna-be dads--all brought their characters out vividly and sang well. Shamus Solomon as Sky, Sophie's note-so-sure-about-this groom, was a bit more understated, but sang well.
Not all the supporting cast members got a chance to really stand out on their own--one who did was Bianca Touseul as Rosie, who convinced Bill to "Take a Chance on Me"--and not only sang down the house, but was hilariously funny when she did. Sophia Boisvert as Donna's red-headed old friend Tanya was very funny as she fended off a smitten islander, Pepper (Walter Moriarity III). Emma Lavoie, Ava Malcolm and Sydney Houle were cute as Sophie's three best friends Ali, Lisa and Bella.
Director Kaileen Dibble did a fantastic job pulling the whole cast and crew together.
Shout-out to costume designer Tina Santos--the costumes were very good. Every character actor has costumes that (I'll never forget getting this lesson pounded into me) "make a statement about the character," from hard-working Donna's overalls in her first scene, to the matching satin disco outfits Donna, Tanya and Rosie appeared in to relive their young glory days in "Dancing Queen," to Sophie's sleek wedding dress and "Father Alexandrios"'s vestments. But funniest were the beach outfits the company appeared in during one number, looking like they'd actually gone pearl-diving as Donna kidded she would send her hotel guests off the pier to do.
As enjoyable as the show was, I did have a couple of constructive comments. Everyone could have used a little more coaching on their dialogue, diction, and overall spoken voice work. Especially in a musical, this often gets lower priority, but line delivery is very important, whether an actor is timing a joke or going for drama. (And especially if your actors are doing quite passable English and Australian accents!) As someone who teaches writers how to perform their own fiction in public, I know how much work this is. But Murdock performers have talent, and it's frustrating to see it not come out as well as it could and should.
The stage lighting also did not work to bring out the best in the show and the performers. I don't mean the tech crew--the lighting and sound cues were handled extremely well. The lighting made very fruitful use of color gels to transform scenes. But the show really needed spots for the actors. I have no idea what the limits of the stage lighting are in the auditorium, but more than once the actors were down-lit so severely, their faces virtually disappeared. Some of this can be minimized by blocking, but then you have the hindrance of not being able to use whole chunks of the stage.
It's also a shame that the show didn't have a pit band to accompany the singers live, but everyone worked well with the recorded soundtrack background.
It was the most fun I've had at a Murdock musical, I think, since MMHS did "Little Shop of Horrors". I'm definitely looking forward to the Morton E. Converse Tournament of Plays next month.
