Study: Schools Are Aging And Underutilized

ORLEANS – Elementary schools in the Nauset Regional School District, as well as the district’s middle school, are aging and underutilized, according to early feedback from an ongoing efficiency and regionalization study of the district’s six applicable schools. 

The district towns of Orleans, Brewster, Eastham and Wellfleet are in the process of conducting the study, which is designed to help the district “address key challenges the region is experiencing, such as fiscal constraints, declining enrollment and aging school facilities,” according to a memo updating the Orleans select board on the status of the study.

The memo was included as part of the packet for the select board’s Feb. 11 meeting. Board Chair Kevin Galligan said at the outset of the meeting that the study is expected to be completed and its findings presented sometime this spring.

“The game plan is to have a few more meetings with some data, and hopefully by late spring we will have some results to share,” he said.

The efficiency and regionalization study is being led by a steering committee with representatives of each of the four Nauset towns. Last spring, HMFH Architects and Civic Solutions Group were selected through an RFP (request for proposals) process to develop a “multi-faceted approach” for the study focused on various district priorities. 

Brewster Town Manager Peter Lombardi, the steering committee’s co-chair, said the committee has met with the consultants “numerous times” in recent months. The committee also hosted a listening session this past fall as a form of public outreach to get input from members of the Nauset communities.

“Everyone’s perspective has been really valuable, and their feedback has shaped our approach,” Lombardi said in an email last week.

“They’ve been really cooperative, and honestly very thoughtful and thorough,” Orleans Town Manager Kimberly Newman said of working with the consultants.

The memo reveals some of the study’s findings to date, including that all six of the schools evaluated, including Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet elementary schools, the Stony Brook and Eddy elementary schools in Brewster and Nauset Regional Middle School in Orleans, are inhibited by age.

The buildings have original construction dates ranging from as early as 1938 to as recently as 1996, according to the memo. All have undergone renovations, some with additions, with the exception of Eddy, which is the newest of the six schools.

But despite those renovations, the memo says that “the overall age of many facilities remains a limiting factor in achieving fully efficient operation.”

“Older buildings tend to lag behind current design standards related to energy efficiency, technology integration and material durability,” the memo reads.

Each of the six buildings requires certain improvements to be brought up to code with the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board and the Americans with Disabilities Act. But the cost of those renovations at each school triggers a threshold that requires each of them to be brought fully up to code. Work that exceeds 30 percent of a building’s overall assessed value triggers full code compliance, according to the memo.

The study has also found that current utilization of each of the six schools falls short of guidelines set by the Massachusetts School Building Authority. 

Class sizes of 13 to 18 students, and an average of seven for preschool classes, are consistent among the schools. But those figures fall short of MSBA guidelines recommending 18 students per kindergarten class and 23 students for all other general classrooms, the memo notes.

The local class sizes figured in the study do not “account for special education programs and support spaces,” the memo notes. Still, the elementary schools studied have been deemed “greatly underutilized” by MSBA standards. 

The study has also found “a lack of equity” between the schools in terms of academic offerings, according to the memo. Specifically, the memo cites that some elementary schools offer foreign language and STEM classes, while others do not. 

Focus groups assembled this month featuring “school leaders, school-based staff and parent leaders” will lay out four scenarios that best align with the region’s goals for the steering committee for inclusion in the final study, according to the memo.

“This could include various scenarios as to grade configurations, school consolidation, and the identification of new models and programming,” the memo reads.

“I think it is important to highlight that we expect the final report will also identify opportunities for efficiencies that may not require advancing any of the four scenarios,” Lombardi noted.

HMFH Architects and Civic Solutions Group will also provide “enrollment projections and operational analysis” for each of the six schools as part of the final report.