03/01/2022
Kudos to Town Moderator Scott McDermott on the appointment of seven highly qualified members to the new school building bylaw review committee.
Basic Q&As:
1. Why was this committee created? The bylaw review committee was in response to a 2021 Town Meeting Warrant Article/citizen's petition passed by voters.
Quoting directly from the Article: "To see if the Town will vote to establish a committee charged with creating a Medfield Town Bylaw to govern school building projects that includes a School Building Committee appointment process led by the Town Moderator in keeping with Medfield School Policy and designed to engage citizens at large."
2. Don't we currently have a Permanent Planning & Building Committee bylaw for school building projects?
This is where the confusion lies, and where the newly formed bylaw committee can help. Board of Selectmen and Town Counsel stated that the PP&BC bylaw did not govern the Dale Street School project. This would mean that Medfield does not have ANY bylaw to guide school building projects, including how members are appointed and the qualifications required. PP&BC members were simply rolled into a School Building Committee with Selectmen approving the appointments. However, Medfield School Policy dictates that it is the Town Moderator who should be making the official appointments (and this was the practice with the last two school building projects prior to Dale Street).
3. This sounds like a big task to tackle in time for 2022 Town Meeting. Is it possible to bring forth new or revised bylaws by then?
Yes! The existing PP&BC bylaws serve as a good foundation and may only require editing. Other town/district school building bylaws also serve as helpful templates. The key questions that will need to be answered by the newly appointed committee include:
- Who is the appointing authority for a new SBC?
- How large should the committee be (average size across 40+ districts is 17 members based on MSBA records)?
- Beyond roles needed for MSBA and self-funded projects, what other profiles should be represented on the committee to reflect the uniqueness of Medfield community (e.g., seniors, teachers, students, historical commission member, etc.)?
- Should town employees/non-residents such as the superintendent and town administrator be voting members? (The existing PP&BC bylaw states they should not).
- What are the key steps for forming a School Building Committee, i.e., Who kicks off the process? By law, school committees have responsibility for care, custody and control of existing "school houses" and school property. With prior projects before Dale Street, Medfield School Committee simply voted to instruct the Town Moderator to begin the appointment process. With the Dale project, the recruitment process was initiated by the PP&BC chair without School Committee granting the authority to him or superintendent to serve that role. Names were then put forth to Board of Selectmen for appointment against school policy. The bylaw tasks required for the new committee should be relatively easy to execute and require only a handful of meetings.
- What key steps, if any, should be dictated by a school building project bylaw (e.g., MSBA/self-funding decision, public hearings, abutter notification, etc.)?
The bylaw committee appointments announced today represent highly qualified and fair-minded volunteers who understand the town, have bylaw or policy-writing experience, and will do a great job with closing gaps and eliminating confusion.
