The Board of Selectmen, in a 3-2 vote on Dec. 18, authorized spending $27,000 from its Rantoul Trust Fund for the interior work necessary to convert a section of the Bromfield School basement into studio and office space for Harvard Cable TV.
Saying its current location, on the lower floor of the old library, is too small for program production, the Community Cable Access Committee, with members of the School Committee, pitched the relocation project to Selectmen earlier in December. At that meeting, the cable committee asked for $69,000 from Selectmen, but it arrived at the meeting of the Board of Selectmen on Dec. 18 with a revised estimate of $54,000—with the work provided by students and instructors at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School—and a commitment by the School Committee to pay half. The School Committee is also planning to make a $39,000 capital request for the next fiscal year to do the exterior accessibility work.
The cable committee says a new studio at the Bromfield School will also address the education component of its three-pronged mission: to serve the public, to serve education, and to serve government. Citing examples from other towns, the cable committee says that with a cable studio at Bromfield, teachers and students would be able to take advantage of the video production equipment available there, and, if there is enough interest and financial support, it could one day be integrated into the school’s curriculum.
“This is a win for everybody involved,” said cable committee member John Burns at the Dec. 18 meeting.
Selectman Tim Clark, who voted against the funding, asked why the school and cable committees didn’t consider locating the studio in a room on the first floor that was originally intended—but never used—as a cable space. That room is currently being used as classroom space. Clark called for a “swap”: the cable studio in the upper room and a new classroom downstairs.
“The part of the building, where it already exists, is already accessible handicapped-wise, and it’s already accessible for community education,” Clark said.
Clark said he supports an expanded cable studio, but, “I want to get the best possible space for the best possible program, and we have a lot of resources already committed in the school to media technology, with staff.”
School Committee member Keith Cheveralls, who has been active in the relocation planning, responded: “We did look at the space when the issue first came up…That space is now dedicated classroom space. We’re already a documented two classrooms short in the high school. You could not commit to that space with any degree of certainty beyond the calendar year.”
Conceding his “swap” proposal, Clark later in the meeting made a motion that the School Committee pay the full $54,000 cost of the interior fit-up and Selectmen reimburse half from the Rantoul fund only if Annual Town Meeting approves the School Committee’s capital request in April. That motion failed when Selectman Marie Sobalvarro joined selectmen Bill Johnson and Ron Ricci, both strong supporters of the relocation plan, in voting against it.
Sobalvarro said she felt the Rantoul Trust was “an inappropriate funding source.” For that reason, she voted with Clark against the motion to approve the funding without a contingency. Johnson, Ricci, and Selectmen Chair Lucy Wallace voted for it.
