SOUTHWICK – The Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School Committee approved the FY (Fiscal Year) 2018 capital improvement plan during Tuesday night’s meeting.
The committee brought the plan to a vote for the third time as it had been initially rejected by Granville at their annual town meeting in May and then rejected again by Granville at a special town meeting in June.
If each of the three towns in the school district approve the FY18 capital borrowing plan it will allow the Regional School District to use the $525,000 they have proposed towards a number of different areas. The departments included in the plan and the amounts are as follows:
- Transportation Vehicles $200,000
- Technology $150,000
- Equipment $50,000
- Buildings $25,000
- Playground $100,000
According to Superintendent Jen Willard, originally, the capital improvement plan was set at $600,000, but since the district missed their window of time to include the $150,000 for paving the school roads, $75,000 of the paving was put towards technology instead. The other half of the $75,000 was taken out of the FY18 plan and could be in the FY19 budget.
The school committee approved the FY18 capital improvement plan during Tuesday night’s meeting. (Photo courtesy of Greg Fitzpatrick)
Moving forward with the process of the capital improvement plan, the school district is sending out letters to Southwick, Tolland, and Granville residents giving them the option to hold a special town meeting and vote on the matter. All three towns have 60 days to take action, and if they choose not to and that time passes, the FY18 capital improvement plan will be passed.
With $200,000 of the $525,000 in the plan earmarked for transportation vehicles, Willard believes approval of the plan is a necessity in order to make sure the district has the proper amount of mid-size buses.
“We desperately need those mid-size buses,” said Willard.
Willard went on to say that there are a number of streets in Granville where a full-size school bus can’t properly go down, which is why purchasing more mid-size buses would resolve that issue.
Currently, some students in the district have to walk a half a mile or more to their bus stop and Willard believes that the purchase of the mid-size buses would change that.
“The pickup is going to be at their driveway,” said Willard.
Noting the fact that the other items included in the FY18 capital improvement plan are also highly important, Willard said that the $150,000 for technology is integral since there will be MCAS testing in the district this year for grades four, five, seven, and eight.
The Westfield News will continue to follow this matter once it is revealed what each of the three towns plan on doing for the FY18 capital improvement plan.
