Most of the administrative offices were moved out of Hillside School in September 2008 as a way to save money for the school district.
Patrice DardenneMONSON – The superintendent’s office will move from Granite Valley Middle School to Quarry Hill Community Elementary School in time for the start of the 2011-2012 school year.
The School Committee voted on Wednesday to put aside $10,000 for the move, which Superintendent Patrice L. Dardenne said is mostly for relocation expenses.
In September 2008, Hillside School on Thompson Street, which once housed all the administrative offices, was partially closed, as a way to save money. The superintendent, superintendent’s secretary and business manager were moved to Granite Valley Middle School, also on Thompson Street, into former guidance office space. The curriculum and special education directors relocated to Quarry Hill Community School on Margaret Street.
Still at Hillside are Business Manager Donald R. Smith’s staff and the transportation department.
Smith’s two-member business staff also will move to the middle school. Within the next 12 months, the transportation department will be moved out of Hillside, and into a former wood shop area now used for storage at the middle school, Dardenne said. Most of the buses are parked at the middle school now.
Granite Valley is the most crowded of the town’s three schools. Once the administrators leave, the space will revert to guidance offices, he said. The middle school’s guidance counselors now work in the former school store and in a small utility room.
Dardenne said the move will help consolidate the administrative offices, which will help both his staff and the public.
“The central office is in three different buildings now . . . (Quarry Hill) will be a place that the community will be able to go to and do whatever business they need to do with the schools,” Dardenne said.
The administrators will use vacant classroom space at Quarry Hill, he said. The school district, like others in the area, has experienced declining enrollment, a trend that’s particularly apparent at the elementary school, where the building has lost 200 students over the last four years, Dardenne said.
“Even with this move, there are still two or three open classrooms,” Dardenne said.
“This will help us with our efficiencies, our processes, and our procedures,” Dardenne added.
When the decision was made to partially close Hillside, Monson was in the midst of a severe budget crisis. School Committee members were told that the partial closing could net an energy savings of $20,000 the first year and $30,000 the next.
Now that Hillside has been partially unused, Dardenne estimates it would cost a “quarter to a half-million” dollars to renovate the space for reuse. Improvements needed include a new roof, he said.
The School Committee voted 3 to 2 to fund the $10,000 contingency fund, with Chairman Jeffrey D. Lord and members Holly Battige and Joshua Farber voting in support, and Joel Keller and Peter A. Sauriol voting against it.