e e e e e e e e e e did I start over oh yeah I can hear myself now um so I guess I should start from the top okay okay so uh apologies for that little technical difficulty or user error as it were um again we're here to update the community on the progress on the Elmwood school project um since it's passage a town meeting so um at this point um we're finishing the design development phase and working uh beginning to work on the construction documentation and importantly what's coming up soon is we're going to start the local and state permitting process so this is where we will um make uh we will meet with the planning board so that they can understand the features of the building the features of the site and raise any questions that they may have that we need to address as part of the um development of this project so that is what will be continuing over the next number of months um again we are looking at opening the school in January of 2028 and beginning construction of the school in the second half of 2025 um the process just to reground everyone in this again is um we we had extensive interaction with the community holding several forums throughout the um throughout the the initial design process so that we could understand what the community was looking for in terms of the school building and the educational model that they wanted Elmwood to support um we had prior to the town meeting vote we held um more than nine different public forums and met with several organizations throughout Hopkinton to to gather opinion feedback so that we could present a solution to town meeting that would meet the town's educational and financial needs um which culminated with the town meeting in November and approval of the project we're continuing to try to have as much interaction as possible both Community forums like this and also focus groups with faculty and staff who will be actually actively using the building so that we can make sure that we're continuing to design a building that best meets the educational model and um just to explain a little bit of the process um it's established by the msba it's um it's been around for a while and um it's part of the guidelines that we follow uh what we've done is work with the msba as a partner to establish what the educational needs are nothing more nothing less um and this has been vetted among the the educational leadership the faculty and the msba um they require a robust process what you can see here are U some of the priorities that came out of the educational program that's the definition of the goals and objectives on the right hand side you can see the required spaces to meet the educational needs moving forward next um the enrollment is also vetted by the msba in fact they established the project Ed enrollment what we're looking at here is a year-by-year tracking what you see in green uh represents um enrollment growth in the coming years that is within 10% um of what uh what you have now what the facilities can can hold what you see in yellow is a 10 to 20% increase and that means that class sizes may need to begin to increase by a few students or um spaces will be repurposed and what you see in red is a Beyond 20% and that's really showing you where you need new spaces built to accommodate the the educational enrollment um next slide uh if we look forward the uh the project at hand involves um grades 2 34 and this is uh important because it not only solves the additional needs of the fifth graders but you can it provides relief as well um for the uh grades five and six um sorry grades seven and eight um at the same time so it it provides relief not only immediately for an additional grade but also for other grades within the district as part of the process we looked at sites throughout the town of hopkington uh we orig started with 44 sites and um Whitted it down to a select five um locations where we developed further um ultimately ending up with the chosen site on Hayden row and the existing Marathon site the existing Marathon site was limited in that it couldn't sustain a grade 2 34 school so when the decision was made that we would pursue at grade 234 school for the reasons that Bob just outlined the Elmwood site was no longer viable we continued to look at options for the site ultimately creating a matrix that examined the benefits and weaknesses of each site with red demonstrating a weakness and green demonstrating a benefit the Hayden row site despite its challenging traffic continued to show that it was the most suitable site for the town to consider of those that were being studied ultimately ending up on a site that is the um the building as it is currently proposed uh and this is a look at the current um preliminary site plan um it basically is the was the most viable site as Chris had mentioned uh it's a campus plan so it's just south of the marathon school which you can see in the upper left um by being a campus plan it allows us to connect the two sites pull 140 cars and and the 18 buses um off the street um and onto the campus um it's expected to combined with the synchronized timing of the two schools uh relative to other schools in the district reduce traffic um and reduce busing as well districtwide taking a closer look um we can see that the the immediate site plan the building is shown in white um it's three wings um the site plan accommodates 200 parking spaces shown in Gray and an additional 60 parking spaces for overflow flow events which are located over by the uh fields that are in green um the loop that goes around the building is for car circulation it's open on arrival and departure but it's closed during the school day so that becomes safe and accessible space to play and recess um and you can see the buses that are located on the front queue up at the front of the school um both allow students to be dropped off toward the front of the building building uh in a safe uh manner which does not cross any traffic um this is a look at the overall massing of the school it's kind of a preliminary design but what was important about the design is the three- Wings the three stories they're held to the back of the building so that the front of the building is one in two stories and has an ENT a canopy that stretches across the front of the building that's both for shelter for waiting and also to create scale for the school so for a combined school um it's actually very approachable and scaled for the uh young students that'll be arriving this is a look towards the back again a very preliminary um design you can see the three stories toward the back we've also done solar studies to make sure that the that we have daylight into the courtyards those are the spaces between each one of the Wings and those become active spaces for Outdoor Learning um this is a look at all three floor plans for first second and third floor um what's key here is it's organized so that all the community and activity spaces mostly shown in yellow are in the front of the building and accessible to the community After Hours the academic Wings where you see blue and purple uh three floors three store uh three wings um create small academic neighborhoods um and those are able to be locked off um for the sake of security but also for after hours um containment of the more active areas um just quickly um we have diagrammed how the plan uh relates to the educational program there are a number of things that could be pointed out here they've been presented a number of times but it all starts with Safety and Security Administration is located up front with good visibility not only of who enters the school and control of the entry vestibule to admit uh uh visitors into the the rest of the building but it also observes the drop off areas and the parking um as part of natural Safety and Security there are also um good connections to Outdoor Learning good visibility to both Inspire and students and connect to the outdoor landscape um and Paramount in this entire design was to create small learning neighborhoods so that this uh school coming together uh with all three grades would feel and uh be experienced as a very small um small school experience throughout the day just going up to the second floor floor we can see um at the heart of the school on the second floor we have the media center this is also where we have Science Tech and art um and we have a continuation of the neighborhood and the connections to indoor out um the school is future ready we are thinking about the potential for expansion so the dotted lines that are numbered six show that you can add on very simply to the school in the future should you need to um the msba requires I believe it's a 10% growth uh what the school actually accommodates is 25% and lastly on the third floor you can see the continued pattern and again with the Science Tech and art at the heart uh and in the shared zone for the school um and uh you can see there's uh opportunities for each one of those learning neighborhoods to really have eight rooms total but six classrooms that um are very well connected to each other um as part of the design as it has advanced we've started to develop the Interiors uh this is a cutaway section through the building it shows on the left hand side the entry vestibule with a secure transaction window a second set of doors that's for safety and then upon arrival into the school you can see the two story Media Center there's a window that looks into the media center we're using natural themes as you can see here trees um to express that verticality but also to relate to the landscape um and part of the theming of the entire school as as you walk in the school you can look straight ahead you see a main stair you have a good sense of circulation in connection to the floor above and Views to outside this is a cutaway look at the cafeteria you can see we bring daylight in from above it's also a performance space the back of the of the stage is also windowed to outside um curtains can be pulled during performances so that it can be an completely internal and interior Focus space um but otherwise still maintains those connections nature uh this is a look at the gymnasium um in what we see in gymnasiums is uh not only the uh the tall space to accommodate a number of different sports and a variety of activities um but here too we also try to make those connections to the Treetops and to the outdoor spaces um it's all part of a a vibrant um learning environment this is a cutaway view of a typical classroom neighborhood so you can see the equivalent of eight classrooms total but six um General classrooms that huddle around Corridor space that's enlarged um that's intentional uh a modern educational facility extends learning beyond the classroom and that also creates opportunities for one-on-one learning Independent Learning pullout space and uh combined collaborative projects uh what we're looking at now is a portion of the media center the media center is actually two stories we're looking at the first floor on the left hand side which is faded is the main lobby um where you could see the the window that uh tree uh motif of a window that looks into the media center um it was decided that the media center could be broken into a grade two level specific connection kind of for the the younger age uh students here um and also scaled uh environment for the media center and next slide will show the floor above which is for grades three and four um you can see the cutout that looks down onto the the uh grade two portion of the media center um and then the variety of spaces that we have here all of these spaces are set up to be flexible the Furnishing is a mobile movable so that it can be configured in a number of different uh setups and also usable for community and public use in addition to the theming inside the building um we are also trying to create a building that is green on the outside in terms of how it Heats and cools itself it will be run by geothermal so there will be Wells drilled in the area outside the school and those wells will be used to pull heat from the ground to heat the building in the winter and to take heat out of the building in the summer and place it in the ground in a similar way to how your refrigerator cools from the air in the room that it's in this will cut energy bills and overall is a very efficient way to heat and cool the building throughout the year I'll turn it over to John to speak to some of the other improvements so recognizing that this school uh as Bob mentioned is in a a campus setup on Hayden row um next to the marathon school um we uh wanted to make sure that we did as much as we could to mitigate any traffic impacts that would occur as a result of adding the school um to that Hayden row Corridor and we have done some studies that have identified improvements that we can make both to the existing Marathon school entrance and exit and also how to design the new entrance and exit that will be going in at 147 Hayden row um which is currently a town-owned property um that will serve as the driveway directly into the new Elmwood School as you saw in the prior site design slides the two schools will be connected by an access road and so as parents are dropping off at either or both of the elementary schools they'll be able to connect without leaving the site um in total we designed the Elmwood um setup so that it would cue um up to around 140 cars which will pull the bulk of the traffic off of Hayden row and reduce any backup UPS further we've done some design work to look at extending turn Lanes um for the current uh Marathon entrance as well as um crosswalks and other signage that we can put in we're also looking at the possibility of adding a signal to the intersection at the current Marathon driveway to deal with the volumes that will be coming in and out of the combined school um there is again adding all of these students to Hayden R might seem like it's going to increase traffic but we do believe with the being able to pull cars off um we will mitigate that importantly though it will also have some beneficial traffic impacts um right now we estimate that the combined campus is freeing up as many as 12 buses from the current bus routes and this is because the schools will be located next to each other and currently with Elmwood all the way um across town you um have to have additional buses many people might live in neighborhoods where there are actually backto back Elementary buses coming in and out of the neighborhood and that's because of how far apart the schools are located these 12 uh buses being freed up will allow the school district to adjust routes shorten ride times for students and consolidate stops um we also um are looking at the fact that teaching Specialists can easily move between the elementary schools as they will be located um so closely together as well as being close to the Hopkins school that is is only up the road on Hayden row [Music] um and I think that's it for traffic and transportation great so I would be happy to walk you through some of the educational benefits as a result of the new facility and its design so in terms of educational programming um the the building has been designed very purposefully to establish those neighborhoods we all know that this is a large Elementary School and so when the children come in they will sort of live in one of those wings and establish a neighborhood feel this really allows kids to become comfortable friendly familiar in that home with their peers and with their teachers um our kids will be living in these neighborhoods hopefully for the three years that they attend the building um and this is a great way for us to be able to address their diverse needs and get kids with you know all kinds of needs to be living under the same roof so to speak in terms of science technology and maker spaces there are three um science Technology and Engineering rooms as well as a maker space in the building um the Massachusetts standards for science have changed since 2016 um not only do kids have to be familiar with some of those disciplinary core ideas the ones that we learned when we were learning learning science um in our elementary and and middle school years um but now we are expecting kids to engage in engineering practices and to really do science so that sort of roll up your sleeves and experiment um so these science technology engineering rooms are going to allow our school district to grow its science curriculum and in fact when we were meeting with the mass School building authority one of the things they had asked of us was to do a complete sort of science curriculum overhaul uh when they realized the possibilities that were available to us in this building and then in terms of special education we are moving our people to all specially designed instruction and a lot of co- teing models um and so you can see that when you look at things like the breakout spaces or in a few moments we'll be looking at a slide where you can see that a classroom has sort of been defr and when we talk about that what we mean is you don't have that sort of typical blackboard at the front or white board the front of a classroom anymore where kids are facing forward in rows instead the um the flexibility of the learning individual learning small group whole group it's it's very flexible and it it continuously changes all throughout the day depending upon the lesson so just to talk a little bit about those breakout spaces the breakout spaces are located in each of those neighborhoods um we may have kids out there who have remedial needs we may have kids out there working on collaborative projects we may have students who need to do extension projects all of that can happen in those neighborhoods and there can even be CL cross classroom integration of students so for example if three or four teachers have kids who are all working on the same project from different classrooms that can happen in those spaces when we look at the media center uh and we talk about literacy and learning lots of times when we think about literacy we think about reading and reading non-fiction um but we now use the term literacy to talk about multiple genres so we talk about things like financial literacy we talk about scientific literacy um and that's the kind of stuff that we would be growing in this space this is a space for kids to engage in inquiry in meaning making and all of those creative processes across disciplines it's really nice that that is located centrally in the building so that all of the Wings and all of the children have access to those spaces readily and finally um spaces for our students who are English Learners many of our our children I think in the marathon School alone today we have about 28 um different languages spoken and so we do need spaces now for our students who are English Learners and those have been built into the fabric of this building as well um I know that you've taken a look already at um the layout but you can just one more time see the two story story Media Center the neighborhoods the science instructional space spaces the special education rooms which are shaded purple and then obviously the breakout spaces and all of that again happens within a neighborhood and now you can sort of visually see that classroom concept a moment ago I was talking about how we sort of defr classrooms now uh you can see that there are tables set up in that space and kids are working in small groups uh with one another uh they are working in individually with a teacher and that's really the notion that happens in classrooms now there's multiple things happening all Under One Roof and um and as those things happen kids are are really getting what they need instruction is targeted to the profile of the learner uh as you look over on the leftand side what's really nice is all of the natural light coming into that room um in terms of safety if you look at the bottom right corner um that space right there keeps all of our children if they were in that space out of the visibil from any one of those windows or hallways um so the the design of the classroom is not only about safety but it's also about instruction and it optimizes natural light there's so much happening in each one of those classrooms that um is really advantageous for our students um as as people social emotionally and as Learners academically and then when we look at restorative practices Counseling and Family connection um it's no secret that we have a lot more school adjustment counselors and psychologists who are working to address student needs um each one of those wings will have its own assistant principal and its own School adjustment counselor the advantage to that is that assistant principes and counselors will get to know the families and the students over a three-year period And so when we talk about things like restorative practices and counseling those are best served when we know the students and when we know their families um so the Family Outreach is another Target for us as a school district and when you allow these kinds of relationships to be made you really maximize Family Outreach I'll be talking about the total project costs over the next three slides now this one chart's a little busy but it's important on the leftand side it shows the square foot cost of all schools that the msba has partnered with since 20 8 in the middle of the page you'll see that Marathon which was built in 201728 was below the average of other schools at the time for around $373 per square foot to the right you'll see that Elmwood is certainly higher at $714 per square foot but you can see that all of the schools have gone up over that time in the last several years it's important to note at $714 a square foot Elmwood is the lowest cost per square foot of all schools in this current cycle you may find a interest that the three schools at the top situ Stoten and Dam are currently being estimated between 850 $900 a square foot let's take a look now at the cost details for the Elmwood replacement the Top Line shows the total square footage of 175,000 two ft line two shows the construction cost at 24,95 4,689 line three highlights the soft cost multiplier of 26.8% that includes things like construction and project contingencies consultant fees Furniture equipment and Technology the next line down multiplies the soft cost percentage times the construction cost for a dollar amount of 33 m467 75 at the special town meeting on November 13th the town approved the total project budget of 158,00 $394 the last line shows that we have the potential to receive up to 61 million 527,000 64 from the MSB VA so to bring this all together the total project budget is 158 million next slide please the total project budget is 8,422 394 when we reduce that amount by the 1.7 million expected rebate from Mass Save and the expected Federal rebate of 4 million and the msba reimbursement of over 61 million I mentioned a few moment ago we are left with a potential total Town contribution of 91.2 million the question we hear most often is well what does that $ 91.2 million mean to me in regards to tax increases well today the average home value in hopkington is $852,500 it's important to note that interest rates will fluctuate over time but if you own a home of that value the peak year tax increase would be about $945 that would equal about an 8% increase from your current taxes on a home of that value and the word Peak is important because the borrowing will take place over the next two to three years the tax impact you will go up over time gradually it's expected at 2028 will have borrowed all of the money we'll need and that's when you expect to see your tax Peak increase then the taxes for this project would be less every year until it is paid off it's also important to note that that $ 91.2 million does include a $10.1 million contingency which will help protect the town for any unexpected costs thanks Bill so we appreciate you taking the time to learn more about your future Elwood School we've prepared a questionnaire that's available by visiting the website on the screen we're going to keep this open until mid to late April so if you watch this in the future you can still go and share your views about this project and it'll come to the group and we'll be able to share it both with ourselves and with others as part of the um Mass Environmental Protection act uh permitting process that we're about to enter into thank you for your time tonight and we appre appreciate you watching e e e e e e