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Berkshire defends plan for modular units
(by Joseph Koziol Jr. - October 09, 2008)
Berkshire defends plan for modular units
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
A resident questioned Monday whether the Berkshire Board of Education is doing a disservice to the community by moving ahead with plans for modular units at Burton Elementary School.
Resident Rob Roy said it appears that the board did not fully explore all options for moving 150 elementary students from its school in Troy Township to the Burton campus.
School board President John Manfredi said the board investigated options and chose the modular units, because they are the most affordable for the district and allow for the transition to occur by the beginning of the next school year. "It's more of timing issue," he said.
Mr. Manfredi said the district is looking at the best placement of the modular units, from an educational and economic standpoint. He said the new units will allow for 10 new classrooms and a multipurpose room.
Mr. Roy said the units were just "one notch up from Katrinaville."
He said the district had formed a strategic planning commission that determined the best option was to build a new building for kindergarten through sixth grade on property the district owns on Claridon-Troy Road, at the northern edge of Burton Village. "Why have them if you're going to ignore them?" Mr. Roy asked.
He said he also wonders why the district never went back to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which may have provided the equivalent of a lease-purchase agreement for construction of the new school.
As a taxpayer, Mr. Roy said, he views every dollar he pays in taxes as an investment, and he seeks the best value for his dollar when government spends that tax money. He questioned whether he is getting that best value with the modular units.
Mr. Manfredi said the district relied on its architect to determine the approximate costs of the options.
He said a new building for kindergarten through sixth grade would cost the district between $12.5 million and $15 million. A brick-and-mortar addition to Burton School was estimated to cost $7.5 million to $8.5 million. The modular units are expected to cost the district in the neighborhood of $2 million.
Mr. Manfredi said any brick-and-mortar project would have to go to a vote of the people, because the district does not have the money. He said the district is trying to live within its means with the modular units.
But Mr. Roy said the numbers presented were not "hard numbers" to adequately assess the options. He said "hard" or "real numbers" could be obtained by asking construction companies to better gauge the costs.
Mr. Roy said the district made a public presentation in February, stating that it would be building a stand-alone building for elementary and possibly middle school students. He said that plan also included the return of the Burton School property to the tax rolls for future private development.
Mr. Manfredi defended the modular-unit construction, saying it would employ wood, wall board and steel beams set on a foundation. He said all of the units could be moved, if needed.
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