Project to replace old Tisbury school has been divisive.
Jeanna Shepard

Selectmen Won't Back School Committee's Bid for More Time

Holly Pretsky
Thursday, May 3, 2018 - 5:30pm

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The Tisbury selectmen voted Thursday not to support the school building committee in its bid for more time to sort through options after the failed vote on the new school last week.

But building committee chairman Colleen McAndrews said despite the lack of support from the selectmen, her committee would still send its request to the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

The events added another twist to the aftermath of the vote by the town to reject a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exemption question for a $46.6 million new school.

The school building committee is required to send a letter to the MSBA by May 8 outlining its plan following the vote in order to keep the possibility of $14.6 million in state reimbursement money on the table.

As explained at a packed, emotional meeting Monday, there were only three options:

• Revote the project before a mid-June deadline, believing that the plan could be approved by the town the second time around;

• Request an additional two to three months to explore whether the town would consider a revote;

• Withdraw from the process, forfeiting the opportunity to get $14.6 million in state reimbursement money.

After three hours of discussion, the school building committee voted to take the middle course and ask for more time.

But on Thursday the selectmen took a different tack. All three said they looked forward to starting over on the school plan, but that they could not support the vote of the school building committee.

“I don’t think time so far has been wasted if we say no,” selectman Tristan Israel said.

“I’ve felt and still do feel that that’s the wrong way to go,” said selectman James Rogers.

“We need to work harder to develop a project more people can really be enthusiastic about and support,” said selectman Melinda Loberg, who also sits on the school building committee.

Speaking to the Gazette by phone after the meeting, Mrs. McAndrews said Vineyard schools superintendent Matthew D’Andrea would still be sending the original letter — only without the selectmen’s signature.

“I felt very disappointed,” she said in part.

It all capped a tumultuous week for the town which has been deeply divided on the new school question.

Tisbury School

Tisbury school building renovation

Tisbury select board

Comments (35)

Seriously, Vineyard Haven

THANK YOU Tisbury selectmen for standing up and doing the right thing! How much thought has gone into the fact that a third of this the town is senior citizens. Many lifelong residents that own homes in the town. That are barely surviving on their social security check. Then their are the seniors that are not surviving on their SSI, and their adult children/family members are financially supporting them. It is not funny to be an old person and not have enough money for basic weekly food. Afraid to turn the heat up higher then 60 degrees in the dead of winter, because you know you don't have the money to pay the heat bill. It is sad that an elderly person has to choose between buying food or paying their cost for the daily meds they need. There are not very many homes in Tisbury that hail in under $500,000. Do the math on what this would do to a elderly person in Tisbury that has not one dollar to spare at the end of every month right now. You would be pretty "shocked" to see how many seniors best meal, is their meals on wheels everyday, many times that is their only meal. Lets shift the FOCUS from wanting/needing a new school, to how many elderly people that do own homes in Tisbury, are living in Tisbury well below the poverty level. PEOPLE, they are old! They have no way of coming up with the extra many hundreds of dollars for property taxes every year for the rest of their life. Do kids deserve a great education? Of course they do. Do they need a 47 million dollar school to get a great education. Absolutely not!

May 3, 2018 - 8:25pm

Are you kidding me?, VH

So basically kids have to be in trailers for the rest of eternity and/or have substandard schools because there are poor senior citizens who failed to financially plan to live in a nice town with low taxes in their half million dollar homes? This is why people tend to move out of their homes as they age into something they can manage, both physically and financially. Millennials and Gen Xers that have been gouged in their education and living expenses by the generations before them can't have any house at all, and can't afford to raise kids, and subsidize people in half million dollar homes and watch their towns fall apart. The other towns on the island have figured out how to have nice things. Tisbury Town leaders seem to want to kick the can down the road and send their kids to buildings older than time and make excuses about it.

May 4, 2018 - 2:57am

Ken, Edg.

Have a little respect seniors saved the economy in 2008. The fed slashed rates to zero on their savings. How many people in their 70s are going to transfer their savings into the stock market. So they have received little interest so banks could pay back their loans, something like 13 trillion according to the 2011 Fed. reserve audit. That means they have to be very frugal not to lose their principal. Still cant get 2 per cent on a one year cd. I could get into medical expenses wiping out your savings too but why bother. A 30 million dollar school with the state picking up 14 million would have been a good deal.

May 4, 2018 - 12:10pm

deshandra brown, Edg

I'll agree on one point. "The other towns on the island have figured out how to have nice things'. Before you knock seniors, many of them never had children in school and did not require that expenditure. It's really selfish of you to expect them to subsidize your children. If you force them out of their homes, guess who the buyer will be? Families with children, who require more teachers, more classrooms, all of which require more property taxes. The best way to keep taxes down is to encourage seniors to stay put, and encourage senior retirees to move here. You sound very bitter with your rant, blaming other generations for anything that doesn't fall right on your plate with an open checkbook. How about thanking them (and non-senior veterans) for willing go to war, fight battles, make sacrifices and die so you can peck away at your computer whining about everything and expecting it all to be given to you.

May 4, 2018 - 1:26pm

Seriously,

Are you kidding me.......of course not the kids don't need to go to school in trailers for the rest of eternity. That statement is so DRAMATIC! I went through every grade in that school as well as both my parents. And the way I look at the Tisbury School right now, is a LOT different that when I went there. It has had plenty of Tisbury tax-payer tax dollar upgrades thru the years. It's an old brick school school with lots of new additions.....but wait, it's only money, why not just tear down the old building with all the additions and start with brand new! There are a lot of long time residents in Tisbury (I think the correct political term is Tisbury native) We old timers do like the town to look nice, and we do vote in favor on very import issues that are tax dollars are getting used on. If you are not happy with the Tisbury school, feel free to move to another town with a new school. Or home school. I hear home schooled kids end up being some of the most brilliantly educated kids there is!. There ARE other options if you think about it!

May 4, 2018 - 6:12pm

Childless Well Educated, Same Island

I and my life partner chose not to have children. We vote. And we vote to spend our money, of which there is never enough, on schools. Why? Because we were both given quality free educations from public schools. "Pulling the ladder up" is a political term for people who benefited from societal graces then decided to not pay for the same graces for others. It is a really ugly term and mindset, and it is exhibited here in this discussion plain as day. I am not saying this 46 million dollar school plan was the best choice. I don't live in VH and don't vote there. I do believe everyone with a horse in this race needs to come together ASAP and figure out how to give these kids at least as good an education as you got. It is funny, people talk about how social security will fail because it used to be four or five people contributing for every senior collecting. Now it is five seniors to every worker (not really, but you get the idea). How come nobody acknowledges the new ratios of kids in school to voting age people? We have way less kids per tax payer now. This village can afford to educate the few kids we have. Not if you ask some seriously greedy older tax payers. Unconscionable, entitled cheapskates.

May 6, 2018 - 1:57pm

Aykm?, VH

When people say seniors are on fixed incomes part of the positive side of that is that in economic downturn their income is often....fixed. If they are in bonds the income will still be steady. It can be a a disadvantage and tough to keep up with inflation when prices go up but can also be a protection when the market falls. I get that a lot of seniors, and a lot of people in general feel they have to vote their interests. There were all sorts of people of different ages and groups that voted for and against the new building. But what if everybody votes this way? What if younger people start using this logic and started saying things like "I can't afford to subsidize social security. I'm not going to get any. I can't subsidize medicare and senior services. I don't need to subsidize anything I don't use. I don't use the sewering or the VTA." Either we're all on the same team or we aren't. I had assumed seniors want to have good access to doctors and nurses. Those people often have families. Families might not be here if they have to send their kids to a school built in the depression with a trailer where they only get 13 minutes to eat.

May 8, 2018 - 8:29am

Nancy, In a Tizz-bury

The headline should read "Tizz Selectmen reject everything". Killed Stop and Shop, killed Main Street, tackled Boch, wrestled Santander, buried a new school. Back to the past.

May 4, 2018 - 12:43am

Looking to the future, VH

A fitting tombstone for them would be one that's sorta falling apart and dingy that says "But I kept taxes a little lower". Hopefully the Fincom tombstone will be over to the side with an arrow pointing at it saying "We told them we could do it." Maybe the teacher tombstone could say "Taught kids in trailer in town with some of lowest taxes in the state." The Planning Board one could say "Don't expand this overcrowded cemetery no matter what the engineers say. Just renovate." And that's the future of Tisbury apparently. Looking forward to it.

May 4, 2018 - 7:40am

Isllander Too

" sorta falling apart " That is self-inflicted by the School Committee. Strategic neglect.

May 4, 2018 - 11:21am

Max, Tisbury

The taxpayer's tombstone could say "I was taxed to death while paying a 25% higher cost of living than my counterparts on the mainland."

May 5, 2018 - 6:47am

Looking to the future, VH

Isllander Too it's a 90 year old building. Nobody at town meeting was trying to give the principal more maintenance money and nobody will try to give more to him now. And there was absolutely maintenance done. A new roof for example. I'd say it's in better shape than a lot of things in Tisbury.

May 5, 2018 - 8:05am

LTTF , VH

No. You weren't taxed to death. The town has one of the lowest tax rates in the state. If you are having such an incredibly hard time living in one of the lowest taxed towns in the state that's on you.

May 5, 2018 - 5:47pm

H.K., Vh

I’ll back that , been here 18 years as a business owner on Main Street seems to be the going way for selectmen! It’s exhausting trying to better our community with So little support from our town officials.

May 4, 2018 - 10:42pm

Islander Too

The decision on a revote rests with the selectmen. They have decided. There is really no point in "sorting through options" because the MSBA does not really allow that at this point. It is sad that the School Committee and its TSBC cannot accept the results of the ballot.

May 4, 2018 - 7:03am

Tom, Oak Bluffs

I applaud the selectmen's decision. A project that has so much vigorous opposition is obviously not communal.

May 4, 2018 - 7:14am

Huh?, VH

1.8% difference at the ballot box. Pretty short margin. Vigorous? I guess you mean loud. Good thing the selectmen did not offer a revote. College kids coming home. Oh my!

May 5, 2018 - 7:29pm

lisa nagy MD , Tisbury

Moldy schools here are a danger to health. These kids will have impaired lives for ever form their exposures here in substandard buildings. ADD, allergies, depression and addiction can be related to these sick buildings. If any school here is old and moldy then they should measure the toxins at realtime labs in the dust of the school and urine of the teachers and children (paid for by blue cross) and determine with a medical professional if the school is an unsafe building and if this is so there is no question that a new school must be built whatever the cost - it is not fair to poison the staff and kids - it is a no brainer.

May 4, 2018 - 7:34am

Islander Too

Aha, so this is the source of the "sick building" rumor!! Evidence, please. Actually, new buildings are major locuses of air quality issues (Legionnaire's Disease, anyone?). Poor air quality is one of the reasons that the renovation of hte (relatively new) Falmouth High School was so expensive. With the cost overruns the bill was somewhere around $110 million.

May 4, 2018 - 11:23am

Thanks Voters, Vineyard Haven

Thanks Tisbury voters & selectmen. A ballot vote is a vote and the sore losers will once again whine & cry until the next vote / election. However in the mean time fix up and try to beautify our port area and beach road where visitors arrive and many get their first impressions and where we have to drive by daily year round. The people with deep pockets are letting 5 corners properties look like parts of Detroit along with that disgusting looking Ghost Ship at Packers that has been moving from place to place along beach road looking terrible, worst and worst after each storm. The time limit that guy gave for permission to build it was a joke from the start. That is where to spend some time and money and for those who lost I say suck it up you lost!

May 4, 2018 - 7:43am

Huh?, VH

So you recommend spending taxpayers money to fix private owners property on the waterfront to make it beautiful?

May 4, 2018 - 4:49pm

Grace, Tisbury

The sky is not falling! We can and will fix the Tisbury School and get rid of the trailers. Lots of good ideas are being discussed. Lots of pent up conversations are waiting to be held. Thank you, thank you, Tisbury Selectmen, for taking a stand, at last. I'm going bald tearing my hair out over this. I'm sad that the Tisbury school building committee didn't get what it wanted and is now intent on thwarting the town.

May 4, 2018 - 9:46am

Paulli D, Edgartown

Time to look at regionalization of all public services and education. As SERIOUSLY States in the first comment, the islanders can absorb the tax increases. Also, the selectmen for all towns have to start to look at how the recent tax laws will impact the summer house people now that they can not deduct the state and local taxes and have a cap on their mortgage interest. We will see sales of the summer homes increase has they look for lower cost options. In other words, lower tax base. It's already happening.

May 4, 2018 - 10:33am

Susan Desmarais , Oak Bluffs

Good for the Tisbury Selectpersons. You stood your ground and respected the will of the voters. I wish other politicians did the same.

May 4, 2018 - 1:41pm

Really?!, Vineyard Haven

Regional, Regional, Regional..........show me a plan that does not include building a new school and not still needing to renovate the Tisbury School. There is no building big enough to put all middle school student in. Maybe grades k-1 in OB, 2 and 3 in Tisbury and 4 and 5 in WT and expand Edgartown to accomodate the middle school kids. This still needs an expansion that we have to charge all towns to accomplish, still needs a reno to Tisbury. Maybe that way Tisbury could charge other towns to renovate the building and spread the cost around. Awesome plan and super easy to convince people to bus their kids all over the island. Again, all you selectmen/women out there, please get together and report back to us how this discussion went.

May 4, 2018 - 1:54pm

deshandra brown, Edg

Regionalization would basically be a way for Tisbury to have other towns bail them out...as you stated. ...NO THANKS.

May 4, 2018 - 6:09pm

Wow! , Vineyard Haven

Total BS. Voting out current selectman ASAP.

May 4, 2018 - 7:43pm

Home Rule Dude, Next Door

You gotta wonder how legit the vote was. Not casting shade on the town or vote counters in any way. But these seasonal residents, a small number but enough, sure do like to lie about their domicile. They do it all over the island to get local status for steamship passes, personal property exemptions, and for sure in Tisbury for residential exemption. "My wife lives there and I live in NY/Florida (where they get a healthy tax break for being local)." Overwhelm the local staff and set their lawyers on it when they get legitimate pushback. These people do it for sport. Husband and wife, domiciled together, laugh and toast champagne while enjoying their view over the ocean. (Please forgive the gender specific traditional marriage example...it is just my experience...I am sure there are a population proportionate number of life partners who are just as willing to be cheats)

May 4, 2018 - 8:00pm

Islander Too

I invite you to go to the MVTV website and watch the video of April 2016 Town Meeting. Pay attention to the number of voters who attended, to reach a quorum. Now pay attention to the number of "no" votes (voice vote). The Yeas on that vote is how many people voted for the $825,000 appropriation in the first place. A tiny portion of Tisbury voters. Now compare that to the stampede for one-issue voting this year. And teh stampede out of the gym with high fives once "their" vote had been taken. The Gang of 567 was the most valid vote of the lot.

May 6, 2018 - 1:40pm

No Action, Oak Bluffs

Let me remind you that no action, backstabbing and backdoor out of the public plotting is not leadership. You have been absent of leadership in VH for so long you think inaction is celebratory.

May 4, 2018 - 8:39pm

charlie callahan, so boston/edgartown

One commentor said the SCHOOL SHOULD BE BUILT WHATEVER THE COST. That's easy to say if you have a high 6 figure income,don't care what your taxes are and are loaded. But for REAL people who can barely sustain themselves on what they make,have trouble paying their taxes now, it's a foolish thing to say

May 5, 2018 - 7:00am

Really?!, Vineyard Haven

I have been doing some thinking. It appears there must be quite a few, large capital expense projects weighing on the minds of the planning board and selectmen/woman. Could they/would they tell the voters what the rank order of those projects are in an open and transparent forum? We should know the direction the town is heading. I have one of those lists for my home improvements and vehicles. Is it town hall, then school, then police station? Some other order perhaps? Please don’t make us guess!

May 5, 2018 - 9:12am

Transparency needed, Vh

Here is the thing Really?! Tisburys lack of leadership and transparency is amazing. I hear 18,000 square foot town hall is being planned for approx 23 town employees. Say What!!! It's time to put a list out there and let the town decide where to go next. I say trailers for all. If they are good enough for 20 years for kids they certainly are good enough for our adults who work in town hall. By the way I like town hall employees. This is not personal.

May 5, 2018 - 8:33pm

Lots of complaints; not so many suggestions for solutions., Edgartown

Would it be possible to incorporate some type of robust elderly support within a new school building? Food pantry/resource center for financial guidance for elderly/community gathering space?

May 6, 2018 - 11:27am

Tisbury Voter 2

"Food pantry/resource center for financial guidance for elderly/community gathering space" Do you live in Tisbury? Ever heard of the Tisbury Senior Center?

May 6, 2018 - 1:42pm

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