Here are statements in favor of the new high school project from Burlington residents that have been involved in town government for many years.

An analogy from Bill Boivin
I am strongly in favor of article 3 – funding the Burlington High School building project. The building is old, does not meet today’s standards for a public high school and is in need of substantial repairs. Think of this analogy:
I am going to compare our old High School with a hypothetical old car that you are very fond of:
- The shell of the building compares with the frame and body of the car.
- The passengers in the high school are the students.
- Driving this vehicle are the teachers and School Committee who are responsible to keep the passengers safe and headed in the right direction.
- The engine of this vehicle is the HVAC system and the boilers. You cannot run this vehicle if those do not function.
- The building maintenance crew is our mechanic.
Over the years, you have been keeping it running and in the best condition you could. Even though it is old, you find it reasonable to have your mechanic make continuous minor repairs, even an occasional bigger repair, because you like the car and you don’t want the significant hassle and expense of acquiring a new vehicle.
If a really significant repair becomes necessary such as a new transmission, some of us might still consider proceeding with that repair, again – because we like the car and dislike the potential costs of a new vehicle.
Now let’s say the engine fails in our car and needs to be completely replaced. This would be a very large expense. I imagine very few of us would opt for total engine replacement in an old vehicle.
Let’s take this analogy to its final step: what if there were MA DOT rules that said, “If you replace the engine on your vehicle, that effectively makes it a new vehicle so therefore you must bring the entire vehicle up to all of today’s safety standards.” Now you must install antilock braking system, automatic emergency braking system, air bags front and side, rear view camera, meet lower emission standards, and whatever else makes it up to current code. I suggest that none of us would choose that path.
That is exactly what is happening with our good old High School. As much as we would like to keep it running, it is just not a good investment. The total cost of current upgrades to replace the “engine “and meet code begins to approach the purchase price of the new school. Suddenly, a shiny new model looks good to me!
I hope that you follow this logic and vote to support Article 3.
Thank you
Bill Boivin, Precinct 1

A testimonial about the high school from Martha Simon
14 years ago, the Burlington Public Schools did a review of the condition of all the school buildings in town to find out what repairs were needed and what was a priority. The top priority was to renovate or replace Burlington High School. The School District immediately started applying to the state agency which sometimes helps fund school building projects (the MSBA) for financial assistance with this project. When I joined the School Committee 10 years ago, we had not been selected into their program for three years already. Of course, we wanted to get partial state reimbursement for such a large project, so we continued to apply to the state, with no success.
The feedback they gave us was that our application was a good one, and that we needed to do this project. However, they receive over 90 applications a year and there is funding only for about 15 projects a year. One of their top criteria for accepting a project is enrollment pressure. The Burlington Public Schools has had relatively flat enrollments recently and in the foreseeable future. Thus, we were never accepted into the MSBA program for reimbursement.
Note – MSBA does not reimburse for administrative space – but that is not a criteria for acceptance or rejection of state funding for a project. It just means the town has to pay the full cost of renovations to administrative spaces. We also were not eligible for the state Accelerated Repair Program.
After 13 years of being turned down by the MSBA, we decided that we couldn’t wait any longer. Town Meeting generously funded a $1.5 million feasibility study so that we could move forward. For two years, 25 people from the community and the schools, from diverse perspectives, along with professionals with expertise in school buildings and architecture, met as the BHS School Building Committee. This project is the result of that careful study.
The professionals that we worked with offered many options for us to consider, despite the fact that the BHS campus site has many limitations. Among them are wetlands, proximity to neighborhoods, rock ledge, and floodplains. When we didn’t like those options, they looked outside the box, thought creatively, and suggested other possibilities, including offsite. There were some options that seemed promising but turned out to be not feasible. We considered all of the options that I have heard raised as objections.
After two years of working on this, we chose the project that is before you – a brand-new academic wing for our children, renovations to some expensive parts of the building that are still usable (like the gyms and auditorium), and demolition of the worst parts of the building.
This project also has the advantage of the least disruption for our students. They will remain in the current classrooms until the new classrooms are ready, and move only once. Plus there is no wasted cost for classrooms for our students while the construction is ongoing.
Please vote YES in November for the debt exclusion. Thanks!