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11:43:28 pm Rochester Votes Yes for Expansion

Categories: Rochester

The Town of Rochester voted on October 31, 2009, to appropriate funds for expansion on the Rochester Memorial School, which is currently over-capacity.

In an October 26 Special Town Meeting, Rochester residents voted 260 to 5 to approve the renovation and expansion project, which will add 14 classrooms, expand the cafeteria and add 200 parking spaces to the school. The override was approved at the October 31 election by Rochester voters, 3 to 1.

The estimated cost of the project is $26.5 million; after state funding, the Town of Rochester will be responsible for coming up with $11,860,000.

Because of the space crisis at RMS, Rochester Project Grow students have been attending Marion schools, at Rochester's expense. Marion School Committee Chairperson Jane McCarthy described Rochester Memorial School as "busting out at the seams." Eating in the school cafeteria, finding space for classrooms, and just day-to-day foot traffic has been a logistic problem at RMS.

The approved project is slated to begin in April 2010 and will ideally be completed during the 2010/2011 school year. The much-anticipated expansion project will provide room and resources to the growing town population.

Michele Cusolito of Rochester is a parent of two school-aged children. While her daughter attends Project Grow in Marion because of the space issues in Rochester, her son attends RMS and feels the impact of the overcrowding first-hand. Ms. Cusolito helped work on a "Vote Yes" campaign for the RMS expansion project by distributing lawn signs and by collecting contact information to rally parents on the issue.

To Ms. Cusolito, the expansion project will provide more resources to children, as well as the teaching staff, who she says have been "terrific" and "tremendous" despite the teaching challenges they have faced. RMS staff sacrificed their break room so children could have an art classroom, which has resulted in a lot of teachers eating their lunches at their desks or in the small office that is currently serving as the replacement teachers' room.

"The bottom line is that a 'no' vote would've cost the town more than a 'yes' vote in the long run," Ms. Cusolito said, citing the low interest rate that the school will get on the loan used to fund the expansion. Since the town voted "yes" to appropriate funds, Town Administrator Richard LaCamera will begin the loan application process and the town will pay a historic low for an interest rate on the project.

ORR's upcoming superintendent Douglas White stated in his second interview that the RMS expansion would be a wise investment solution to overcrowding since, if Rochester voters had voted it down, they still would have had to invest money in the analysis of the building's safety. Money spent on temporary classrooms and small fixes would not have had any kind of investment return. The slated project will support an expanding school population for the next 20 years.

For proponents of the RMS project, Halloween 2009 was a day of happiness - not horrors. "I'm thrilled," Ms. Cusolito said. "A lot of people have worked really hard to get this to pass."

By Anne O'Brien-Kakley

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