An entry way at the Whitman Hanson model school. Note the vaulted ceilings, soaring windows and wood paneling. Does this remind you of a school or a cathedral? Not a showplace school indeed. Watch for more photos coming.

The library. I like learning as much as anyone, probably more than most ( I take technical papers to the beach, much to the dismay of my wife) but do we really need the vaulted ceilings? What do they add to study and learning? Very pretty, but not on my dime, thank you.

The courtyard. It's supposed to add natural light and radiant heating to most of the rooms. This is New England however. From October to April the radiant heating is in the southern hemisphere, not here. Get rid of the thing altogether, shrink the footprint of the building, reduce cost, save heat. Students shouldn't be looking out the windows anyway.

Comparing Apples to Apples

A real problem with not replacing the existing school, which is, after all, the only option on the ballot, is what to do at the end of the 20 year additional projected lifespan that can be expected if we spend another $20 M on the existing school. Do we build a new school at that point, with no matching funds, or do we fix up the school again? How long can we keep fixing the existing school?

The new school is projected to have a lifetime of 50 years so I'm hoping it won't be my problem by then. Here are my assumptions:

We fix up the current school to keep it running for those fifty years.

Cost of fixing, years 1-20                                                $20 M

cost of fixing, years 21 - 40                                             $25 M

cost of fixing, years 41 - 50                                             $15 M

total cost of basic repairs                                                $60 M

extra -ordinary expenses (probably low)                     $100 K per year or $5 M over 50 years

extra energy costs                                                             $45 K per year or 2.25 M over 50 years

Total                                                                                      67.25 M over 50 years

These estimates are probably low. They do not include inflation, rising maintenance costs or fluctuations in the price of energy (who would have predicted $100 bbl for oil)

However, they also assume that the new building is well built and actually holds together for 50 years. So there you have it, a simple but conservative comparison of the costs of the two options that will actually appear on the ballot on March 30. Building new wins by at least $20 M. However, the indebtedness is all front end loaded, so may present a hardship to folks living on fixed incomes. Let's not forget that we're all in this together.