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WESTFIELD – During his report to the School Committee on Monday, Westfield Public Schools Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski said the City of Westfield has received a letter from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) inviting a Statement of Interest (SOI) for the Franklin Avenue Elementary School into the MSBA’s Eligibility Period. The 270-day Eligibility Period is the first step in the MSBA grant-approval process.
Czaporowski said that he and Mayor Brian P. Sullivan, School Committee Vice-Chair Cindy Sullivan, and WPS Chief Financial Officer Ronald R. Rix recently attended a meeting in Boston with MSBA on the process. Successful completion of all activities required during the Eligibility Period will allow the City to be eligible for an invitation for an MSBA Feasibility Study, which will require a further vote of the MSBA Board of Directors.
The letter also states that the City’s vote by the Board of Directors approving a potential grant will be no sooner than July, 2021. To qualify for funding, local communities must follow the MSBA’s statute and regulations, which require MSBA partnership and approval at each step of the process.
The Statement of Interest was submitted in April for renovations and an addition to the Franklin Avenue Elementary School for the reason of overcrowding. Rix said at the time that the district is looking to make extensive renovations in partnership with the MSBA, following a feasibility study that will be done on whether an addition to house 100 to 120 students will make it large enough to house a total of 320 students.
Mayor Sullivan said they are now in the middle of the process. “We now have the okay to keep working on it. It’s going to be a long process. 12 out of 78 made it to this level,” Sullivan said.
