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Tri-Town Confirms It Will Build K-8 School; It Will Also Pay Town to Educate Students That Attend New School

Posted on: Wednesday, 14 December 2005, 09:00 CST

By Eunice Kim; EUNICE KIM

The Patriot Ledger

The agency overseeing redevelopment of the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station is committed to building an elementary school on the site and paying for the education of the Weymouth students who go there, the agency's director said last night.

"Let there be no mistake about it. ... The responsibility to provide a school rests with us," South Shore Tri-Town Development Corp. Director Terry Fancher told the school committee.

Fancher said plans for a school on the old air base property are included in Tri-Town's master plan. Mayor David Madden added that the state legislation that created Tri-Town requires it to absorb all costs of services, including educating students.

Fancher said a K-8 school would be built near the proposed recreational complex on the Weymouth portion of the 1,405-acre base, which also lies in Abington and Rockland. Tri-Town would reimburse Weymouth $7,275 per student each year. The agency would also cover the extra costs of educating any special needs students.

"In effect, we're paying money to you to educate the students," Fancher said.

The school committee voted to instruct Superintendent Joseph Rull to start discussing with Tri-Town the educational impact of the reuse plan, or village center plan.

That plan calls for building 2,855 condos and houses, and two million square feet of commercial space by 2017.

Base developer LNR Property Corp. is looking to build a small portion of the development as early as June. It said the work falls under a state waiver granted three years ago.

Phase 1 would include 500 condos and houses and 150,000 square feet of commercial space. The housing would sit in the Weymouth portion of the air base, Fancher said.

Development of a main road and infrastructure would start first and take about a year and half to finish, Fancher said. LNR would begin building the Phase 1 houses in 2007.

Fancher said those houses and condos would generate 90 to 132 students. He anticipates half of those students entering the schools in the fall of 2008, with the other half coming in 2009.

When the entire air base redevelopment plan is complete, about 800 students are expected.

In the beginning when there are only a small portion of those students, Fancher said Tri-Town would likely look to have them educated in Weymouth schools until the school on the old air base is built. Fancher and school committee members talked about the possibility of bringing in portable classrooms that would sit behind Hamilton Primary School.

The discussion last night came after the school committee voiced concerns last month that the vacant Fulton Elementary School might be needed to house students from the air base.

Because of the concerns, the committee decided at that point to continue heating the building. So far, it has cost the schools more than $12,000, said building maintenance director Tom Slattery.

Last night, the school committee voted to determine the fate of the old school at their next meeting in two weeks.

Committee member Sean Guilfoyle also asked if Tri-Town or LNR would cover the cost of heating the Fulton School. He referred to comments made months ago by LNR spokesman William Ryan that LNR would pay for any burden the towns had to bear as a result of the air base plan.

Fancher said he couldn't commit to covering Fulton School costs when there aren't any students now.

Madden called it "somewhat unfair" to ask Tri-Town to pay when it doesn't intend to use the building.

Fulton closed in June 2003 after the school committee voted to transfer programs to the Johnson Early Childhood Center to save about $46,000 in the fiscal 2004 budget. The building is now used for storage.

Eunice Kim may be reached at ekim@ledger.com.

Source: Patriot Ledger, The; Quincy, Mass.

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