 Okay, I think maybe we'll just start then. I'm Kathy Shane I am the chair of the elementary school building committee and I'm like welcoming everyone who managed to figure out how to join us this morning to today's community form on the school I had the privilege of leading this off as we are really at a key juncture as Amherst takes the next steps toward building a new elementary school and Tim is going Tim Cooper from Denisco is going to operate the slide so Tim if you want to put them up and go to the first slide. My role today is to provide an overview of the project we are as we're going to describe we're really see this as we're building for the future for our children for our community and for climate. I'm going to give an overview of the project the project status, then Donna Dennis go of Dennis go designed or architect and Tim Cooper, I believe are going to provide you with the vision that we've come up with as we begin to get much more to talk about what the school in the site will look like and Margaret Wood from answer advisory or owners project manager and that's the person she's critical and keeping us on track and doing all the paperwork for the Massachusetts school building authority that will enable us to secure a facility grant and as you can see we're a 13 member building commute committee of which I am the chair. The slide please. As we've looked at the school. One of the things we focused on right from the gecko is education with the decline in enrollment in our elementary schools we can combine two schools that are currently operating well below capacity in buildings that have little to know insulation, engaging inefficient heating and cooling systems, and we're built in an era where air circulation use of fossil fuels and energy costs were not central concerns. As Donna will discuss the education needs of the students and teachers informed the design with a focus on student centered learning and ability to work in small groups throughout the building teachers and students will benefit from daylight within the building and in and be part of a site with robust outdoor spaces for learning, including teaching about the environment natural resources. Very excitingly this will be our town's first net zero building. The design will meet the town's net zero bylaw and a well insulated all electric building with PV arrays to offset utility costs, we expect to save at least $250,000 a year and operating costs utility costs. Throughout we focused on cost, the selection of Fort River as a site will ease the way we build because we're going to have the current school open there's be less disruption during construction. One school moving from three schools down to one will save on operating costs. Throughout, and Donna will discuss this more the building committee and the designer have focused on selecting durable yet lower cost materials and a few in a very efficient three story building. We expect to receive a facility grant from MSBA with official notice in April, but the cost of the school given other needs of the town will require a debt exclusion vote to help pay for the town share. This is currently scheduled for May 2. Today and tomorrow's forum or the beginning of multiple community efforts there'll be ample opportunities to provide comments and participate as we move from the overall design and building design to specifics with the goal of opening a school in 2026. We're now going to turn it over to Donna, who will provide a vision of the school and we think the emerging design both of the site and the building are incredibly exciting and give a sense of that we really are building for the future. Donna, it's all yours. Yeah, thank you, Kathy. So as Kathy mentioned, really the educational program drove the design and we received approval in almost a year ago, which is hard to believe the program components and the areas for each of the programs totaling the program area of 70,500 net floor area and that's a square footage of the spaces and with within the four walls of the spaces. And from that we have a grossing factor of 1.5 so the total gross square footage of the building is 105,750 square feet. The grossing areas and the gross square footage have not changed. We are committed to staying within the approved square footages for the building. But what we've spent the last year on and we've continued to refine is the spatial relationships and adjacencies for the students and staff to ensure that we maximize time on learning that the students have the resources and the staff that are needed to support the programs are within close proximity to each other so this is a huge shout out for everyone that has been involved we really appreciate everything that you've done your input and being so available to us. Next. If you look at the Fort River site, you'll see the dashed in existing building to the north. And this building will remain in operation the school will remain in operation. While the construction of the new building will occur to the south of the site, and there will be spaces behind the building for outdoor activities recess and outdoor learning that will not change. And then separating the school functions and the construction. So there'll be clear separation and actually might give a little peak peak holes through some of the fencing so the kids can actually see the construction of their new building which is also an educational opportunity. Once the new school is completed will move the students in over the summer of 2026. Our goal is to start demolishing the existing building over the summer of 2026 while the students are not on site. The next line will remain, but the activities will switch the students then will occupy the new school, and they'll have access around the school for recess and outdoor learning. The next fall of it's probably going to be late fall for the completion of the site work which will be filling and completing the community fields to the north. I want to just emphasize that the field sizes and types are placeholders right now, and that final determination doesn't need to occur right now. Thank you, Tim. So we just want to share a little bit about circulation and traffic we understand, you know, combining two schools with an enrollment of 575 students is a little bit more than what you currently have. If you want to be my eyes and ears would be great. I don't know if we can see your mouse but yep thanks the south entrance will be the bus drop off entrance and we're able to accommodate the 12 buses that will come in through the loop. And there is going to be a drop off area right here and we'll show through our video or movie, you'll see the entrance how we're trying to celebrate that area. So we have a van pull off area as well which we understand is critically important, as those students need additional time to arrive and depart in the morning to the north the north entrance will be for staff parking and for parent drop off. We'll enter from the north, and there's ample queuing of at least 60 cars to go up to pretty much where the end of the existing building is. But if we need to we have, you know, ample space for additional queuing as well. We're currently providing handicapped parking as you'll see close to the building but also close to the fields as as we really want to embrace this as a community, a community project with 100, approximately 170 parking spaces. If we zoom in a little bit closer to the larger effort that's going to occur, we've spent a lot of time working on outdoor learning, embracing the site as part of the outdoor learning, while providing play areas for the students that can occur year round. So you'll see the two circles to the north with the place play rectangle that will be play equipment for the students our goal is to have a younger playground in an upper student upper older student playground with a play area in between that can be utilized for that can be plowed, and that will be soft surface so students actually have a place to play during the winter months. We've also provided and are thinking about outdoor dining. We understand how popular that is which is a wonderful opportunity so we are thinking about, you know, where we can put picnic tables or outdoor seating areas for them. You'll see all the squiggly lines that come through the site that's all going to be hard surface that will also be plowed and the students will have ample opportunity there to play, whether it's four square gaga pit or whatever. And we're going to take some time over the next phase to engage the students and find out what's important to them. We have some community basketball hoops to we have to full size and then a couple of half courts as well. And what we've done is we've thought carefully about how we can integrate outdoor learning. What you see in the blue are our rain gardens for a stormwater management, but we really believe that these can be wonderful outdoor learning opportunities. We have a garden area and a cultivation garden that you'll see will appear better in the video. Thanks Tim. Go to the next slide. So we see many familiar faces and in this morning's community forum so thank you for staying with us throughout, but we just want to share a little bit we have the main entrance to the West that visitors students and staff will enter. We have the main office right at the front and that will be the gatekeeper, the, that will have oversight to the arrival both for the buses and for visitors staff and students arriving by car. The community wing which is at the front of the building, we have the gymnasium and the cafeteria and it says platform but that will be your stage that can be used by the community, while the academic wing which is in purple can be closed off so that we maintain that separation. There's an elevator right. There you go we have an elevator as well that won't necessarily be needed for a community use but there is an elevator throughout the building. When you enter the academic wing, what you'll see is five classrooms per grade. It was very important to create in a small school feel and you think the videos will probably show you better than us but you have three classrooms surrounded by a project area sharing a project area. The project area will support the classrooms for small group instruction project based learning individualized learning and the classrooms are grouped in a way that each grade is clustered together for collaboration amongst the entire grade. We have two grades per floor. So that also further enhances the collaboration vertically, as well as horizontally. We have taken great lengths to locate the special education spaces to support all students and make sure that they had access to their peers. If you go to the next slide on the second floor as we go upstairs you'll start seeing that the building starts getting kind of like a tiered kind of like a cake. On the second floor to the west we have what we're calling the STEM areas. We have the media center, the art and the science technology and engineering room. We're really looking forward to working with everyone on how we can make the even lobby area of that space the quarter area of that space become part of the project based learning that occurs in these spaces. Again, you'll see the academic wing is identical to the floor below to grade second and third grade shared project areas along with the support spaces needed for those grades. And then we go up to the third floor. As as the older students move up in grade we also think they get to move up on in the floor so they have the privilege of being on the third floor. Sure they're going to feel pretty special about that. And again very simple layout, the floor plan was intentional intentionally simple, both for the students to be comfortable with getting through and around the building. So it is a great construction method to maintain a simple construction and reduce cost. So that's the floor plans and now what we'll do is just share with you some visuals and I'm going to turn this over to Tim. So we're going to start with a view of the front entrance where the parents would drop off on the west side of the building. At the left of the frame you can see some of the canopies that will exist in the parking lot and support the PV that will get the building to net zero as we begin to move around you can see the administration to the right of the main entrance so they will have a view of children entering the site from both drop off loops. The building at the west side is brought down from the three stories. So it's more keeping with the existing buildings in town. Moving to the north through the first playgrounds you can see the media center on the second floor in the cafeteria, all glassy and open to the news and or the materials of the building are masonry which are cost effective very durable but there is a full palette of color available that brings the appropriate. We'll see if we will, that is, we want for an elementary school. Moving around to the east side of the site there, the hardscape play areas including basketball. You can begin to see the rain gardens here that are part of the stormwater management features of the site as well as educational opportunities. Moving around we're getting to the planter and pollinator gardens which are part of school curriculum. There's also a space that is set aside for outdoor traditional classroom with furniture and it's not shown here but there will be a covered area. So as we turn around we get to the southern side of the building you can see there is solar control on the windows on this side to prevent glare, but each of these classrooms has ample window space for natural daylight which has been a driver of the project since the very beginning. Here is the entrance that students taking the bus to school will use on the south side of the building. And then we move past the gymnasium. These murals have been mentioned often and we have large expanses of the gym hall that we have kept open for that purpose or maybe some other building. Here you can see we're circling around back to the very beginning of the building. Now we're going to move inside walking into the lobby through a secure vestibule. The office of the administration is right on your right. We want a light filled colorful lobby that will invite you into the space. It's ample and comfortable but very quickly you're into the heart of the building. You see a stair ahead of you that will get you to the upper floors. To the right is the gymnasium which will be light filled but the light will be controlled so as not to interfere with activities in there. And circling around you can see the cafeteria which is also very glassy and very light with views of the fields to the north. And then connected to the music room which is available in the lobby. The entire space is designed to be light filled and inviting. Moving into the academic areas. These are the project areas outside the classroom clusters. There are lockers for all the students and storage above that for the teachers. There you can see the furniture football learning project based learning. I've noticed by the classroom doors there are very large. Side lights and transom above to let light into the interior spaces and a connection to the outside so someone in the project areas can see outside. And then moving into the classrooms. You can see those large windows. These ones are facing south so you can see the solar control. There are two sinks in every classroom. Lots of storage. You can see here in whiteboard lots of opportunity for small groups. And the connection to the circulation the corridors throughout the buildings very important. There's now we're going to move into the media center. You can see here. There is in addition to all of the books there is space with technology for a full size class to learn. There is also a reading and storytelling area in addition to the sports spaces that deliver on circulation desk. Lots of plays and light filled walls to let light into the building. And then the library itself. So this is a glimpse of your new building. I know it seems like gee it's it's it's ready. We're done. We're not. We have quite a bit of time left so but but these are the tools that we'll use to continue to help you envision what your new school will be in just a few short years. So Tim, let's go to the next slide. So where we are right now is and and many folks have probably heard how the construction continues to inflate. We continue to have market conditions material delivery issues. But but we have a construction cost of, I'm just going to use round numbers here because this is still schematic design but this is the world of estimating the total construction cost is approximately $86,700,000. And then we recognize this was higher than where we were at the end of the study of preferred schematic. The committee worked extremely hard in selecting items that can be eliminated or removed from the project without any or or any deficit to the educational program to the design intent to the sustainability of the building which was so important. So we're currently the construction cost is $81,300,000 or $81,400,000 and Margaret I think you're going to go over the overall project cost. So, so one of my roles is Kathy said layer of sort of generally in charge of, you know, doing project coordination but another big part of my role is to develop the overall project budget. And as Kathy said to develop the documents that the MS Bay requires that document it so this slide gives you an overview that you know as Donna said, we're at an early stage and the specificity of these numbers, like the detail of the drawings has a tendency I think to make people think like it's really done so you should think of these numbers as really as rounded numbers but for the purposes of the funding agreement we actually have to put in specific numbers tied to the estimate. So just taking it from the top. So what we're in right now feasibility is not part of the MSBA calculation for two reasons one is that the MSBA isn't sort of providing subsidy for it and it was also separately funded so it's up at the top but if you sort of roll through these costs, there's no more subsidy than the addition. So, as Donna said in the last slide right now we are at an estimated construction cost so let me I'm going to call it 81.4 was an excellent process, getting to that number. So what are the so called soft costs, which are the parts of the project costs that are not part of the building fallen three buckets one is fees, and there's, as you can imagine quite a few people involved in addition to the consultant teams you see here in the advisory and Dinesco. There's a whole slew of consultants and testing agencies and other individuals that provide services so right now that number stands at a little overnight 9.7 million in total. Then there is a budget line item for furnishings equipment and technology. One of you who have been in newer schools recently. The, the issue just the furnishings not even to touch on the technology and the importance of them and transforming education cannot be discounted. The real question is what appropriate number should we hold now for something that isn't going to get purchased for a couple of years so right now we're using a working number of 2 million. It is possible because that hasn't been reviewed with the building committee. It may move higher before we make the submission it probably it will not be less than that. Then we also carry within the total project budget contingencies that protect the community against the possibility of change over the course of the project so there's a so called hard construction contingency which in this case is we're using a contingency of 5% so that 4.4 million is really just 5% of the construction number above. And then the soft cost contingency is 1% of the construction above. So hard costs would be there's a change in the construction costs soft costs would be there are some additional services that might be required. So that rolls up to, let's call it $98 million. And then there's a fairly complicated calculation that the MSDBA does behind the scenes but it's, it's basically a, it's based on a dollar per square foot that they reimburse on projects, as well as some subsidy of the soft costs. That number I am estimating at this point is 42.7. And that leaves the town's share of the total of the 98 million at, let's call it 55.3 million. And then, as Donna did on the previous slide. I'm also showing the 1.5% for art below the line so my at this point I would say the project is, let's call it 55.6 55.5 50.6 in terms of what the town, the community needs to fund. So next slide just briefly summarizes super short slide. So there's that number up at the top the 55.5. There are several sources of funding that we believe will reduce that so one is a pretty big number of 1.6 million, which is based on rebates that the project is getting from ever source for sorry it's national grid right now it's ever source from ever source for the high energy performance of the building. And then there's money from the Community Preservation Act that is pending council approval that is going to subsidize the cost of the fields, which are being built as part of the project. And the big open question mark is there are federal tax credits for the photovoltaics that are the, the number, the way that's going to be calculated has not yet been published. So, we're still waiting to find out what that is so. And the next slide is the milestone schedule and this is going to conclude the presentation so just to give you an overview so we're here today and tomorrow and the community forum. But in the early February council is going to discuss the debt authorization, and it will at that point get referred to the finance committee finance committee meets shortly after that. At the end of February town council will take up the debt exclusion language, and the finance committee will discuss the debt authorization. Consultants are really big milestone is that we submit the package of all the materials we've been developing to the MSBA on March 2. The MSBA board will vote on the project on April 26. In the meantime, the finance committee and council will take up the death there. And then the next slide will be on the side of the debt authorization. And then right after the MSBA board meeting on May 2 will be the debt exclusion vote. And then there's a lot of work that gets done, but where we're headed is opening the building as Donna and Tim mentioned in August of 2026. I think that's the last slide. So Tim. Perfect. So, thank you everyone. I'm I first we'd like to say thank you to so many that have followed along, but have also provided input to really make this a special project for the community of Amherst but we are wanting to spend the rest of our time. Having a conversation with you all so I don't I don't know if we raise hands. We have a moderator behind the scenes here. Maybe if folks would like to ask any questions or any comments, feel free to raise your hand. I'm going to see how to do this. Tim, maybe if you want to. Well, let's start with Sarah. Yeah, that might be easy. Sarah, you should be able to unmute. You've got to you got to pick. Yeah, Sarah Ross. That's so funny. And we're neighbors. So you know, oh that's so funny. Thank you so much. This is just, I mean the first thing I want to say is this is so awesome and I am so excited about this project. It is, it's clear there's so much hard work that's gone into this. You guys have made such great choices all along the way that are going to serve our town and generations to come of students in this town so I'm really excited for all the future students that are going to get to enjoy this building. And it, you know, it's really going to set up a virtuous circle where, you know, we will have a better time recruiting new teachers retain new teachers. It's going to support health and learning of students so there's just so much that's that's good here. And as we move through this, you know, kind of difficult process of trying to make the dollars work, certainly would encourage you all to continue to look at, you know, finishes and, you know, choices for the exterior, where we can both reduce cost, and potentially reduce the embedded carbon of, you know, some of the materials. I think that's a win win. And then the other, the other piece I just wanted to ask about was the the federal incentives piece as being shown, you know, just related to the photovoltaics my understanding is that's also applicable to the ground source heat pump and so we've got really a sizable chunk that's expected here and so, you know, want to make sure that we are commuting communicating to the community that these green choices are actually the most affordable, you know, likely from both an initial cost, and as we operate the building going forward we highlighted that nicely at the beginning, but my understanding is that these federal incentives are really the most affordable cost for us in this project so want to thank you all for the hard work and look forward to supporting this project as it moves through these next critical stages thank you so much. Yeah, the other Sarah, Sarah Marshall. Hi, can you hear me. Yes. Okay, great. Thank you. Yes, I love this building it's beautiful. I like the massing. It's very interesting and how you've used color. It's very attractive. I have a bunch of questions. Some are very small so I'm going to, I'm going to throw out three what I think are little ones and then you can perhaps just answer them all. One can first can you compare the footprints of the old and the new Fort River building it looks like the new one might have a slightly smaller footprint. Can you explain, I think I know but can you explain why you're flexing the building in the middle. So it's not just one long block. And thirdly is this is what you've shown us still the schematic design and if so, or at some point will you explain what happens next. I'll stop there for now. Thank you. Right. Thank you. Tim, if you could bring up a the first site plan. It's just so much easier to do. And I think he's trying to pull it up. So to answer your first question is Tim's hopefully going to be able to bring up the presentation. The existing single story building is approximately to go up to Tim if you could is approximately 82,000 square feet single story. There you go. And what our current footprint is approximately 45 right to 45,000 square feet. So, so it's almost half the footprint of the existing building. And we find that really important for many reasons site conditions for one. But when you start looking at the overall site. You'll see as we came around the building in the video, you'll see that you really end up being able to take advantage of this beautiful site and and making it even a better community resource. So, yes, almost half the footprint size of the existing building. The flexor that kind of V shaped in the middle. Tim I'll let you chime in as well but this really was to maximize. We have to be mindful of the setbacks the wetland setbacks and everything that we have on the site, but we also wanted to break up the building a little bit so that you don't have a long run for just a very straight building trying to break up the scale once you're in the building. I just wanted to add that, you know, the optimal daylight orientation for the classrooms is in Oregon style so the little flex maintains that while allowing the entrance to base where most of the cars are coming from of Donna mentioned the setbacks at the site so that allows us to pull the building out so it's actually a combination of a lot of factors, including there is a quarter on the first floor the building is smaller than the existing building but just having a light filled a note at the center of that quarters, a bit more comfortable and human scale and a quarter that runs the length of the building. So it was a culmination of a lot of design decisions. And yes, this is a still schematic design. So we have approximately a year to finish our design the next phase is design development. So once we receive funding to move forward will spend some time refining the design and the construction document phase which really just gets into the level of detail on the drawings to ensure that the contractor fully understands the scope, and we'll be able to construct this based upon their bids and constructability for the building. So, sir, I think that might have answered all your questions. Yes, I have more but please call on other people. I don't, I don't have a hand. We see your hand. Richard, let me just go to Claire and then we'll come to you. Thank you. Thank you. I too am so impressed with this design and my questions are mostly about the site and some of the choices. One is, do we have anything in this budget that addresses the demolition of Fort River because I do understand for sorry, Wildwood because I understand the old Fort River demolition is part of this budget so that's one question. Another is what is done to make sure this school doesn't sit in any wetness the way the old Fort River did I see based on my very inexperienced I but it looks me like this new school is actually closer to the actual Fort River and so I just don't know if you could talk about what has been done. And then just one other question about the intersection when I look at the, the, the parking lot entry, not the new planned school bus drop entry but the other one. It looks to me like it's been moved, but I'm not certain. And I wondered I know there's a lot of concern about how traffic in and out of there would impact that light, and I wondered if there's any money in this budget to address that or if that's something that will come to the town for further investment I just wondered where we are with that. Thank you. Thank you. Well, maybe Kathy, do you want to talk about the Wildwood school. The short answer Claire is the Wildwood school isn't touched by this, it's left. So the decision on what to do with Wildwood if this goes forward. We actually had a discussion yesterday in the finance committee on, we have other properties, including South Amherst school on to talk about what we want to do with that piece and that will be the first, the mic and the school, the school have to release the building, if it becomes vacant as a school and then we talk about what to do with it, including that I think there are a range of possibilities. So it's not scheduled on the demolition level here. So that's my answer on Wildwood. Tim, do you want to just talk about what we're doing to mitigate the high water table. So we've done several things. The new building first is two feet to the first floor level is two feet above the existing first floor of the existing building. And that one brings it out of the ground water. Also, we've added layers of drainage below the slab and porous fill, which will allow the water to flow away and break the capillary action of the soil. So it's a combination of making one, the ground beneath it not able to transmit the water up and to raising the building. You did mention that it's closer to the river, but the site slopes down and the building is up. So the difference between the building and the ground around it is actually significantly higher than the old location. We will slope up gradually to the front door from the parking lot, but there was actually a considerable grade change from the area to the building to the building itself. It's several feet down from the building to the garden over here. And then the other question, the entrance at the north end of the site has been moved to the south and the reason for doing that is to give more area for Q of the light on the street so that traffic entering and exiting this site will not conflict with that Q to the extent possible. And Donna, I can answer clear on the outside. Once you leave the school, the intersections, the town is looking actively at that because we have some housing developments coming in in this whole neighborhood. That's where there are state grants to talk about intersections and changes in the way those are designed. So there's nothing in this budget that would do anything beyond the school property so move the entrance but and there's been an active discussion that goes beyond just the school on improving the way all of those roads come together. Claire is that good. Yes, thank you very much. Thank you Richard. Yeah, thank you. I didn't think I would have to remember this but I'm actually the alumnus of two three story elementary schools over in North Hampton Vernon Street and Florence grammar and I actually think they used the fourth floor the basement in those two buildings so I know that some people have asked questions about three stories, like it's alien territory but actually earlier in the last century. There were, I think there were plenty of three story elementary schools. I also want to express my thanks with some empathy for the people who have worked on this project with little or no compensation because my sense of this is no community wastes volunteer time and effort determined volunteer time and effort quite like the town of Amherst. So my, I have two questions one. Could you I wonder if you could take us through what the elements that make this a net zero energy building. And secondly, as somebody who doesn't believe in something for nothing I know you've glossed over this but I'm I guess I'm asking how what got forfeited or sacrificed to cut $5.3 million out of the cost of the project what were the features that you originally wanted that have gone away because we're cutting the cost by 5.3 million. Thank you. Thank you, Richard and and we cannot have said it better this committee and and many others were have just poured their heart and souls into this project and it really could not be where we are today without everyone's support and input. I don't know how to net zero slide or in a sustainability slide that I don't know what happened. Got eliminated, but the we're utilizing ground source heat pumps for it's going to be an electric building. Let's just start there. And we're utilizing ground source heat pumps to facilitate the distribution of the heating and cooling of the building, and it is going to be offset by the TVs that will be installed, or the electricity will be generated by the photovoltaics, or that will be installed on the roof, and in the parking lots. There's some other really wonderful sustainable features that will we're currently tracking lead gold right now which is really commendable. It also includes water reduction. It includes what we call a heat island reduction and heat island so not to heat up the pavement and the site. It includes. So we want to go as far as indoor air quality, which is really vitally important to the staff and students acoustics. And then we're even having a construction waste management plan to be able to separate all of the construction material and also the demolition of the building and making sure that it all just doesn't go to landfill. Kathy. Richard, the other part of this building and Margaret showed those ever source incentives part of it is for construction. The building because of its insulation is very energy efficient. And so those incentives are based on the calculation that the, the experts have done on the energy use of the building so cutting down. This also allowed us to be efficient on how many PV panels need to be put on the roof and they the parking lot. So, so there was a whole equation on the electrical use the heating use the flow so it is, it's a highly efficient building. One of the things I forgot to say in my intro or you, but when these buildings have been built we've seen one school and we're hoping ours will. It becomes a place where the kids can learn about all of this, you know they're going to be able to, there'll be monitors, there'll be feedback loops. So it will in fact be a model building for others and for the kids. So just to echo what Kathy said, the energy use index or the EUI is really important and we're tracking that at slightly below 25, which is incredibly low, which will allow us to offset the energy use with the PV panels. And your question about the team do you want to talk about that. Yeah, it was a change of a specific material to a specific material that is easily adorable. There were some other. I'm going to ask you I'm having a hard time hearing you a little bit. I don't know if you can. Thank you. The material changes are some that would affect the use operation of the building. Things simple as changing the location of where vowels are in the classrooms from the terminal to the corridor, which allows you to reduce typing, which is one of the things that has been heavily hit by inflation and commodity prices. So as a considerable list of pages along with a lot of items that added up, but I mean we went through this, the idea that none of it would affect the experience or use of the building from most of the users. Some more concrete examples would be like where we had all the brand of the cafeteria or the library where it wasn't used as window was essentially opaque we changed that to a metal panel and every square foot that you make that change you're saving a significant amount. So if you do that enough times throughout the building you can make those real savings without changing the floor area without changing spaces. It's just a lot of little tweaks and that's around. I know Sarah has some follow up questions but if it's okay sir we'll just ask Jay to go ahead. Hello. Good morning, and thanks to the, all the volunteers people said this before but yeah a massive project and a lot of good work. My question is about the, the design, particularly the classroom configuration, and I was just wondering the extent to which this building is designed from about four Amherst or whether there were things borrowed from other D'Nisco designs like the How Manning school in Middleton looks a little bit like How Manning to me particularly the classroom configurations. I was wondering if you could say something about that. Yeah, thank you, Jay. So, so the square footage of the classrooms. I don't think I don't know if we can get into the movie but the square footage of the classroom is dictated by MSBA right so we have those previous experience as kind of a precedent for this. We have gone to other schools, not just D'Nisco schools with the school department to look at the various ways and configurations of classrooms. What you'll see is that they're typically rectangular in shape. Just one, if you pan out just a little bit more. Great, thank you. It's funny you mentioned How Manning, near and dear to our hearts it's been so long, but what, what has changed in classrooms is we have two sinks. We have developed a system that provides storage behind that white marker board wall for the staff so that we can provide the storage required, but remove it from the floor so that the area within the classroom itself really just becomes a flexible learning environment for the students. We have lockers out in the project areas so that they're not inside the classroom so again, the focus is the flexibility inside the classrooms. But I think most classrooms when you go through them whether they're D'Nisco or others are similar in nature. Hopefully, because the goal is to provide flexibility for differentiated learning. And I just have to ask how do you know about How Manning. I do a little bit of consulting around the state, we're working with Triton. Yeah, they're awesome. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for your response. Thank you. Sarah you want to come back. Sure, thank you. So my two questions are related and might as well have this all be very explicit. Can you talk about how the school protects folks inside from intruders, either who are trying to get into the school or maybe have gotten as far as the front office, can the academic wing be locked down at the press of a button. And a little bit related to that, if I understood correctly, it seems like most or the kids who arrive by bus are not coming in by the front door, but by the side door. And maybe it's just up to the staff to provide security at that entrance but can you just comment about this on the security features and. Yeah, thank you. First and foremost on everyone's minds these days right, unfortunately, but it's a reality. The, the arrival of the students. Let me say let me back up, we have one to we have for access points into the building we have the main vestibule to the west at the entry of the building. That's one Tim I don't know if you can be my eyes and ears but there you go. We have stair B, which is the entrance for students. Going through the for buses and that also could be used for going out to the educational outdoor learning activities that occur south of the building. We also have a north vestibule on the opposite side of that per code we need so many egresses, and that will also allow students and staff to and exit onto the fields. We also have a rear stair labeled stair seat. So, if we talk about hardware. The building will be locked, and staff will be able to access these stairs through fob or a keycard access, everything will be keycard access. The school department can determine who has those access who has that what access to what stairs but assuming we haven't gotten to that point every all staff have access in the building using these card accesses. The main entry is designed so that you actually have to request entrance through, you know, the system that's currently there and a phone, you press a button you announce yourself. This main office staff can see you they actually have windows so they can see you arrive. You press the button but they'll have a monitor and they'll be able to say yes come on in. Once they enter the vestibule, which looks small here but it's actually going to be large enough and comfortable we want visitors to feel welcome when they arrive. But they actually will have the ability there were two windows there that they can check visitors credentials before they actually enter the building. The second door, the second pair of doors will also be locked. And the only way for visitors to enter the building will be if the main office staff, let them into the building. They do have some security features built in whether it's for intruders, or for fire that we do have doors that are on hold opens but that can also be shut with a push of a button. Can I ask a follow up. Yes, please. It looks to me as if, if the doors to the academic wing are locked. Then the only way out for students on the second or third floor is downstairs see, and there is no elevator. I wonder if it is possible to add locking doors or a gate on the other side of that middle entrance. I'm using my cursor but nobody can see it you know between looks like the elevator and the end of toilet across that that end of the hall, so that anyone in the academic wing could use all of that. It's still not an elevator though, I guess the elevator is only in the community. There is only one elevator, and your point is well taken students that the doors at the academic wing where the cursor is can be mocked so that someone cannot enter those doors, but students can always exit those doors. Right you always have two means of egress is that Rick wanting. Yes, the way the, the building codes are, you can lock those doors on the ingress side but they have to remain open on the for fire egress, the doors were closed for locked on the doors were closed for fire. The doors, the cord if you, if you can go to the second floor. Yeah, so on the second floor students would go through the doors down the stairs you can always get into the stairs and then go back to the first floor and go directly outside for fire. So anytime you see doors swinging in. That's egressing you have to allow people to go in and out, go back to the first floor 10 please. So if you just look at stir B under lockdown. The doors to the academic wing would be locked from an intruder on the first floor. The doors on stair B would be locked to go upstairs on this level because that's possible the doors to stair A would be locked. So no one can go upstairs and they couldn't use the elevator so the intruder would be kept to the admin area. So can that help Sarah explain that. I do understand that if the intruder is in the community or front at area. They would, we would not utilize the elevator, but we will also have emergency chairs to help in case of a fire also also bring students down in case of a fire or something working with the first responders. I guess my, I would just ask. If the doors. It shows swinging doors. I guess it's unclear to me. Like where they hinged. The doors are all shown. So they meet in the middle. Oh, I see I had it. Okay. Thank you. I had it backwards. Yeah, sorry it's this architectural speak. So, are you comfortable with that response Sarah. Yes, thank you. I'm going to start with Jenny. Thank you. Building on, on what you, you just got to in terms of accessibility and, and exiting. That was exactly where, but where my questions are kind of the flip side of Sarah's points. So seeing so many stairwells. I want to make sure that not just students but, but teachers and parents and family members with mobility impairments can get fully in and out of the school and I know that's code. I know that's also part of the welcoming that you all have designed this, but can you point out, you know, if kids are coming in from vans, I guess they'll come in through the front door is that north festival entrance slats. If there were a fire or an emergency exit is there a way to get people out of the academic wing without having to go back into that front. And I will also echo everyone's glee and gratitude for how this is going. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome Tim I don't know if you want to start. First I'll let maybe Tim talk a little bit about that. We do want to say that we have spent. We've had several meetings with first responders police fire EMTs and we'll continue those conversations as we go forward. But Tim do you want to talk a little bit about how how it's fully accessible. He's on mute. Thank you Kathy. Starting from the outside of the building going in there is a fully accessible that from the parking lot or both. To the building including flush curves in certain areas for that egress route. The building itself the approach. There are no slopes. For any of the doors. There is a ramp. The first floor is a couple feet above grade so this is a rail otherwise a black road to all the first and then moving into the building. Elevator essentially located. Yes, there are 3 stairs for mobility up and down through the building. Other than that within the floors other than the platform here with a ramp to it as well as stairs there are no. Changes in level at the floor anywhere in the building other than the platform at the cafeteria. And then at the second floor, the media center is up a couple steps under ramp. And the reason for that is to ceiling height that you need in the cafeteria for performances. But other than those changes in elevation throughout all of the four levels of track with an elevator in the center straight access to all of the entrance points and then this. Thank you. Speaking of accessibility, I just, um, I'm not a educational professional in any sense. And I have not followed all this planning. But if you could speak briefly to how all the educational needs of our elementary schools have been incorporated into this building. I'm seeing things that I don't know what they mean. And you don't have to explain all of them but obviously we have a lot of educational focuses and needs that are addressed and I just want to make sure that you can assure us that we won't have someone pop up later and say hey we left out you know this or that I just like to hear how that experience has gone. Thank you. And, and Superintendent Morris is on the call as well but the educational program truly drove the design there is an extremely well written document that explains how instruction is taught, what the needs are the staff requirements, which then inform the design and the layout of the building. The common aunt days program is an incredibly important feature in the educational program, and we're able to actually expand it by having two classrooms per grade, the part of the common aunt days program. And all of the support spaces and needs whether it's literacy specialist mass specialists. We have your ELL program, which is independent of the dual language program, also recognizing the needs for that. We have spoken to, I think, every kind of like department or specialty within the district to ensure that the spaces are designed, laid out and located appropriately as related to the educational program. And Mike, I'll let you talk about you'll never need anything different. All right, I think a couple things thanks to the question Claire so a couple things that there was a lot of engagement we did have multiple meetings with different staff members over the course of the design process we tried to do right at the end of the day to be able to capture more of their thoughts there was a multiple electronic surveys for people couldn't attend those so we did have lots of access points for folks who are on the ground to look at the designs and weigh in and I think in particular thinking about some of the more specialized I think there was more explicit meetings coming on days with some of our intensive special needs programs around design principles that that we thought was important. We did have Allison sd assistant principal Wildwood and Tammy, so the daily principal for river on the leadership team so we also did direct link through the school leaders around that. I think it's a larger question you ask I think, right, we can't prevent people for saying what about this what about that but they've been doing that throughout and we've been able to integrate the best of our abilities. Those kind of those kind of piece of feedback into design, but but I also think I've been really appreciative of the design principles around adaptability and flexibility that you know this building is intended to last at least 50 years and so knowing that the traditional trends 25 years now may look different than what they are right now there's a lot of flexibility that is designed into the building so this is the current design in terms of what we expect the spaces to be. But there's our real focus and I appreciate down in your team and Tim and other folks who have been part of the design to say, you know, if trends change or if there's some different needs in the future, how can rooms be flexed for different purposes down the road. So, you know, I think it's been designed well in terms of addressing current needs but also that we don't end up in a situation where, oh, actually, we want to use this, you know, STE room for something else that's impossible. It's been designed so that you know some there is some interchangeability, and that's not real word but you know you can follow what I'm saying between the spaces designed so that we can, you know, adjust and along the times I think the counter example to what we had with Fort River and Wildwood which had to be you know walls put up then walls put down and all those changes which just wasn't designed with flexibility in mind and then this building really does have that sort of built into the into the recipe or into the cake so really appreciate the design but definitely the right question asked so Claire I really appreciate that but it certainly is being thought about not just in terms of materials to last 50 plus years but also from a design principle perspective to also last that long because we know things will change over time. One last question, perhaps I can't read all of the small labels there, but I was wondering if the Department of Ed is signed off on the location of the sped spaces because what I'm seeing here kind of looks like some of the special ed areas and alternative learning areas and so forth are pushed to one end of the building instead of being integrated with the spaces for typical learners and I could be reading this wrong but I was wondering if you could comment on that. No, Jesse has a Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for everyone who is an item to all these crazy acronyms has not signed off yet that's part of the submission. We believe strongly that the educational program fully articulates the needs for inclusivity, and we believe that we have done so in a thoughtful manner, also recognizing the need for accessibility and and being mindful of these students. So you are looking correctly at the dark purple is the special education spaces. Many of them are pull out spaces and or staff so at the far end far east of, or, or on the far right, it's a psych office. The learning space, it's, you know, really the psychologist office so we don't anticipate that being an issue whatsoever, as well as some of the other small spaces that main focus is the special education kind of self contained or dedicated spaces that are fully integrated with their disabilities. And Mike, I don't know if you want to chime in more we look forward I'll just say we also look forward to any responses that we have from desi. They have reviewed the educational program, and, and they were quite pleased with it. So, I'm comfortable with this. Yeah, I think that's right I mean I think the only thing I'll add is you know Matt Deniger is the desi wrap. He's a large background and MSD board is a lot of background and interest and integration and special education. We have a lot of co teaching in our classroom and school so it's really. These were designed to provide sufficient quiet spaces that some of our students need with close access to classrooms, and you can see they're not necessarily grouped. They're being adjacent to each other as in other words there's no cluster of oh the specialized programs are all in the southwest corner of the second floor they're spread out so that students can be more integrated which in general is what desi tends to like to see and we'll be open to that feedback and that's part of the iterative process that MSD has which you know yields better results so that's one thing I'd add to what Donna said I agree with everything. Everything else. Okay, thank you. And I might just add I'm a member of the building committee and I'm not of the school committee and teaching but as we watched the layout J of the classrooms change. Many times it was because of an input from the special needs teachers on where to put this feature where to put that feature in terms of the layout to think about where it's near classrooms where it's one end, the eastern end or the western end. And there was a lot of back and forth that the those floor plans would shift. Not driven by us by but driven by input of the teachers. Okay, thank you. Donna you're you're muted. Sorry, thank you. Sarah was asking if the slides have been posted. They have not yet. They will and we can. Yes, we have a movie embedded in our presentation what we can do is is also just provide that movie so people can visually experience it themselves as well. And Donna we can add back in the sustainability slide the one that we talked about but but somehow disappeared. Some of the specifics on what what about this building makes it net zero and the sustainability side. Okay, one more hand Tony, right has raised your hand. Tony you're muted. Sorry, I think I have that figured out by now. Just echoing everybody's appreciation of all the work that's gone into this and it is a beautiful looking building and not been following it from start and it's been great watching it develop. I just wanted to make a plug following up from Sarah Marshall's excellent questions about security. The music areas are just in from the lobby which is sort of reminiscent of where the art room is in Wildwood right now which has been identified as a security concern of vulnerability. I wonder if there's a way to move the music areas back upstairs like they were at the PSR stage, and I was just, you know, looking at where are the single story areas in the building that potentially the music areas could be moved above and it seems to be either the admin at the front or the custodial areas behind the gym. There's going to be one story also and and if the music areas were back on the second floor, it would have them nicely next to the other specials art and steam and the library. And it would just be that extra security behind those stair B and stair a secure doors. I just want to make a plug for exploring new moving those air music rooms back upstairs like they were earlier. Thank you. Rudy. Hi. I can go in there. I also wanted to just commend the school building committee and the Dennis go team for giving us all an exciting new new school. I like that. Hello. I think this would be well worth the money, even if we were just getting this fantastic school out of our investment but I look at this as a actually a four part investment for the community's future that really is cost effective as a result. This is fantastic new school that's very inclusionary much better school than what we have for either of our two schools now it also is a critical early investment in this our first net zero building which will not only give us this wonderful model of that for our community and hopefully spur other communities and so forth and people in our own community or building buildings, but it also takes out a building that's been an energy hog that will be removed from our carbon footprint, which is fantastic double value on that front. And certainly it's a great investment in upgrading community recreational assets there in the community fields that will be significantly improved by this investment. And lastly and we haven't talked about this that much. We've been making small design features to make sure this can be used as a temporary shelter for our community during, you know, power outages or storm incidents this will have backup power. It will have rooms, it'll have lighting throughout that can be powered independently from the grid. So we're getting for great assets by this investment. And largely that's because we've had good a good design team and a great committee working on this so hats off and I strongly support this looking forward to seeing it evolve. Thanks. I'm not seeing any other hands up Donna, you know I'm not sure who's moderate but I just want to several people who have spoken now have been as they noted with us from the beginning so we've had a building committee and we've got another committee who also has regularly reviewed and and we really encourage and have been welcoming both questions and comments. And as I said, on Monday night when we did a presentation with the council that to the extent you have questions or hearing questions or comments, please send them and then if you send them to me. We're working on an expanded question and answer document. Both the things we hear tonight. Some of them may spark thinking as we're we're looking at design so we have tried to be a really open process. One of the things we did during the committee is when we take the committee minutes and and note comments that need answers we've tried to also provide the answers to the committee. If things were brought up so we've been trying to do a constant feedback loop. So I really welcome that and I just want to Tony mentioned the music rooms and I know when we originally discuss them. One of the reasons for the location was because we have a cafeteria and with the stage, and the thought was the stage will be a place for people can perform. And if you didn't notice in the design you can walk right from the music practice rooms onto the stage. So we thought that was a really nice feature for the music teachers and the students, including performances while the kids are eating. So we're trying to take into account how we're using the school and how we might want to be using the school goes into this larger pretty complex equation. So we really do welcome the input and Margaret and Donna quickly said, you know if we get past the getting to the financing part. This, the design is not fixed in stone those outdoor spaces are diagrammed, but thought has gone into them but we haven't gone all the way on what play equipment is going to be there, where exactly will certain pieces be how much will the kids be involved in building some of the structures that are on the outside so I think this is it's I said it my outset this is a pivotal point and a big step, but it's not the end it's it's still a journey for the school and we really welcome everybody participating. I see Sarah's hand is back up so that was my closing remarks Sarah but I think we can take one more quick one. Or, or I'll get the answer another time I know there was a schedule shown briefly, but if you could describe what if any additional design work is happening between now and may second or basically none you're just like preparing the submissions to MSBA. The design that didn't go has presented is the design that will be included in the submission to the MSBA. And that's because it's tied to a vast number of documents that all need to be linked together and accurate including the estimate, and the, and the building documents. So I want to thank everyone who joined us this morning as particularly since I had to figure out how to join so it clearly. We made it accessible this will be repeated again tomorrow night at 630. So if you have friends neighbors other people you know please encourage them to come. And we, it will not be the only time we're taking this out we plan to have district meetings at the council level. I've identified some large places with a lot of people who live there. I'm willing to go out you mass is interested in presentations as well. So thank you very much. Any, any, any final pieces, Paul that you want to say, you know, I will say our state legislators have been following this actively both Mindy and Joe, and they're Sarah mentioned the potential grants that are from the federal but we've also been talking to them about what might be available because we are net zero school, and it's a sustainable building, Mike. And just, I really want to thank the larger community for the support so far in this project this is in the end and Kathy was doing a great job reminding us this is about kids. And this is providing about providing the best educational experience for the children and Amherst and so I just am incredibly enthusiastic I want to thank you Kathy for your leadership of the building committee, as well as the building committee to because we've gotten tremendous amount of feedback throughout, you know the building committee meetings and all that feedback is deeply considered and we've made changes that have made the project better so you know the project's better because of the engagement of the community we appreciate I appreciate everyone coming here today but I really do them they I'm responsible for the education of all the kids in the Amherst public schools and I just want to share my enthusiasm I believe this project will improve the education, education, educational experience of that and provide a much better teaching environment and for our staff our hardworking staff as well so I just want to share my enthusiasm for going forward I more just answer questions but I think it was important for me to be able to you know share that with folks as well we do believe this will make this will be a game changer for the education we're able to provide to kids in the Amherst appreciate the community bearing with us it's a, you know, feels like a slog and then we come out with a lot of information and then we go back and work and it's an iterative process but we end up with a better product because of that so I appreciate everyone's patience and support so far and really excited for the next couple months as we move forward. Thank you all. We're adjourned for today. Stay tuned for tomorrow at 630. Thank you.