FALL RIVER — Superintendent Matt Malone does not want to consider the possibility that Fall River’s voters may reject the $58.5 million debt exclusion necessary to pay for a new Durfee.
“We’re not talking about what-ifs. We’re talking about going forward with a successful vote on March 6,” Malone said.
But residents in other communities — most recently in the town of Clarksburg in Berkshire County — have voted no to similar projects, even with the promise of the Massachusetts School Building Authority picking up most of the tab.
If Fall River residents decide against the new Durfee project on March 6, their decision will set into motion a series of emergency meetings and contingency planning to try to salvage the project.
But in all likelihood, a no vote will kill the chances of building a new Durfee anytime soon.
“Given the overwhelming capital needs of school districts across the Commonwealth and the MSBA’s limited capital program funds, the MSBA cannot indefinitely tie up funds allocated for a project that lacks local support,” reads a statement on the MSBA website.
If voters reject the Durfee project, the Fall River School Department would have 10 days from the date that the election results are certified to submit a plan to the MSBA that presents the failed vote, the school district’s understanding of why the vote failed, its plan to remedy that vote and the timeline for doing so.
“We would have to figure out what the city can afford and what we have to change in the whole scope of the project,” Malone said.
“There would have to be a contingency plan. An MSBA meeting would take place, where the city would have to come up with some alternatives,” said Ken Pacheco, chief operating officer for the Fall River Public Schools.
Per the MSBA’s protocols, a school district has 120 days to obtain local support for a project. The clock starts ticking when the MSBA’s Board of Directors gives its final approval to award grant funding to renovate and build a school. The MSBA gave its official approval to the Durfee project on Feb. 14, which means that the Fall River School Department has until mid-June to secure and certify local support for the project.
If a school project fails at the ballot box, the MSBA says it will review a school district’s contingency plan and then decide if it can continue to set aside funds for the project.
However, the MSBA acknowledges in its official statement that a failed local vote "likely will result" in a school district essentially having to start over by submitting a new application — called a Statement of Interest — and then hoping to be invited back into the feasibility study and design processes.
“We need everyone to know the facts, to understand the consequences of such a decision," Malone said.
In Clarksburg, voters last fall twice rejected a $19 million school renovation and addition project. The project first failed by one vote in a Special Town Meeting last September. Hundreds of citizens signed a petition for a new vote, but that effort also failed at a second Special Town Meeting, prompting the local school building committee to accept defeat.
On Feb. 14, the MSBA Board of Directors voted to remove Clarksburg from its Capital Pipeline.
Email Brian Fraga at bfraga@heraldnews.com