Mr. Winikur explained that Templeton was one of the first districts selected into the eligibility phase in 2007.

“The existing Center Elementary School was grandfathered because of age (built in 1941),” Mr. Winikur said. “MSBA spent a lot of time there and deemed it unsuitable. All engineering systems are in need of replacement.” 

And the existing Baldwinville Elementary School is even older, built in 1925. 

“There’s no library in either school,” Mr. Poinelli said. “The acoustics in the gym are outrageously bad. The plumbing system is well beyond its use. 

With the existing educational configuration, there are four schools. Prekindergarten attends school in Phillipston; grades kindergarten and 1 go to Templeton Center; grades 2 to 4 are at Baldwinville Elementary School and the 5th grade goes to the middle school. 

But if the new educational configuration goes through, it will be consolidated into one pre-K to grade 5 elementary school.

Special education students will also have integrated teaching spaces and special teaching areas. There will be a library and a gym, state-of-the art music and art rooms, an elevator, and handicapped-accessible bathrooms, which the current schools don’t have. There will be LED lighting, wireless access throughout the building and grounds, video surveillance, an intrusion detection system and a cafetorium. There will also be a lobby with a seating area, as well as a physical and occupational therapy room.

“We feel we have an overall good contemporary floor plan to bring the kids together,” Mr. Poinelli said.

To pay for the school, Templeton would require a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion tax override, which would need two approvals, both at the Nov. 9 Town Meeting and the Dec. 8 ballot vote, to pass. 

Detail design work would be done from January to October 2016. Construction would last from October to June 2018. It would be a 93,000-square-foot school that would serve 580 students.

Clarification on this one school consolidation configuration please.

posted by Jeff Bennett