THANK YOU

    On Election Day, the voters of East Montpelier approved an $8.17 million dollar bond to overhaul its elementary school by a tally of 811-731. The improvements will correct existing code violations for fire, safety and accessibility. They will also fix failing or outdated mechanical systems such as plumbing and heating while reducing future energy costs. The temporary classrooms will be retired since once the new space is completed and the students will move in. Overall, the investment will create a learning environment better-suited to teaching students the skills they need in today's world.    Construction bids will be evaluated this spring. The work is scheduled to begin next summer and continue for about fifteen months.    Thank you East Montpelier for advancing the next generation and for your support and trust.

The work to get all of your support doesn't stop now, we know we still have a lot of voters that did not support the project.  We will continue to work on reaching out to you as we make this project a reality for our community.

We will like to thank the amazing support of the Teachers at East Montpelier you have stayed supportive through this long process and help us immensely.   

The principals have volunteer many hours of their time and knowledge!  

Thank you to the entire Facilities Committee we have had many volunteers thought the years you know who you are.   This was a diverse and very committed group of people that never lost track of our main goal what is best for kids and not compromising on Quality.  Daryl Garland, thank you for the amazing design on the newsletter. 

A big thank you also goes to the School Board of East Montpelier for not loosing faith in the Committee and for spending many hours on the Facilities Committee too.  The Process has been long so we will like to acknowledge the previous members of the School Board too. 

We will like to thank Michael Levine from Flying Wheel Communication too, thank you for all your hard work and guidance through this process.

Many thanks too for Truex Collins Architects who have been wonderful to work with. 

Last we will all like to thank our families without their support we couldn’t have succeeded.

It has been a long road but along the way we have built the support of this wonderful community we are lucky to live in.

We had a very good official hearing on Friday, November 2nd at the School.  It was small but we review a lot of good questions.  Thank you for coming and sharing your thoughts and support.  If you still have any questions please call your School Board Members or Facilities Committee volunteers.  You can also visit our Blog:  http://emesfacilities.blogspot.com/

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE

EAST MONTPELIER SCHOOL RENOVATIONS

BOND VOTE 

NOVEMBER 6,2012

VOTING WILL TAKE PLACE AT:

EAST MONTPELIER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

POLLS WILL BE OPEN FROM:

7 AM TO 7PM

THE BOND VOTE IS A SEPARATE BALLOT

FROM THE GENERAL ELECTION BALLOT

In light of the impending storm, a decision has been made to re-schedule tonight's warned informational hearing. 

 

Meeting will be reschedule to Friday November 2, 2012

East Montpelier Elementary School

6:30 pm

Refreshments and Childcare will be provided

thank you for your understanding

_______________________________________________________________________________



Dear East Montpelier Community,

On November 6 the voters in East Montpelier will consider an updated proposal for the first significant improvements to its elementary school in over 20 years.  After a full summer of work, the committee shaved over $2Million of the original proposal.

This proposal reflects the Committee;s dedication to balance the pressing needs of the Facility and Educational Programs in the School with the voter directive to reduce cost.

Please join us on October 29 for the Official Public Hearing

6:30 pm

Refreshment and Childcare will be provided

We encourage you to bring the informational mailing we sent to all the residents.  Let us know if you need a copy and we will have one ready for you.

Here is a link to the Informational mailer if you want to print it or see it online:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/54876785/d/emes_facilities-newsletter1012.pdf

thank you,

Facilities Committee

East Montpelier School Board and Facilities Committee

Is hosting a

SECOND

Community Discussion

October 2, 2012

At East Montpelier Elementary School

Please Come Review the updated Renovation Proposal

Join us for a Potluck Dinner !

Please bring a dish to share

From 5:30-6:15 PM

The Meeting will start at 6:30 pm, childcare will be provided!

Special Movie Night and popcorn for the kids!

Don’t miss the meeting kids will have fun!!

PLEASE LOOK AT THE PAGE LINK ON RIGHT SIDE OF THE BLOG WITH THE REVISED PLANS AND REVISED TAX CHART.

Team EMES will be meeting at EMES on Sep 5th at 5:00 pm to review the updated floor plans and preliminary Cost Estimates.

Please join us if you will like to give us your input.

many thanks,

Facilities Committee

Facilities Meeting July 30, 2012

Team EMES will be meeting at the School at 5:30pm.

The Facilities Meetings are the first and third Monday of the month, but due to the amount of work ahead of us we are meeting  on July 30th.

If you will like to volunteer or help please join us!  You do not need to come to meetings to be able to help, so please email us or post a comment if you will like to help.

thanks,

Flor Diaz Smith
Facilities Committee Chair

EMES Fcilities Survey -- Date Extended

The EMES Facilities Committee is seeking input from the community as the work to address the EMES building must continue. Rubin Bennett posted a message on the Front Porch Forum about a recent post-bond survey sent out to all the registered voters of East Montpelier. Few responses have been received to date and so the deadline is being extended to allow more time for voters to provide their input. Rubin's message is included below.

The survey referenced is available as a pdf here EMES Facilities Survey
or an online version can be accessed here

The feedback of all the voters of East Montpelier is needed now so that it can inform the work of the EMES Facilities Committee.  Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. 
- Arlyn Bruccoli

Hi folks
I'm wearing my Facilities Committee member hat as I write this post. My purpose is, to be completely honest, to plead with you and everyone you know to please, please fill out and return the Facilities Committee questionnaire that we sent out a couple weeks ago.

To date we've received only 66 responses (36 on line at the SurveyMonkey link, and 30 paper responses). We sent out 1024 surveys, one to each registered voter/ household in town (an appalling 6.4% response rate). By way of comparison, we had a voter turnout of 690, or roughly 34% of the (if I remember right) ~2,014 registered voters in town. I'd be happy with 30% of surveys, I'd be delighted with more, because the more we hear, the broader our 'sample set' of responses, and the more accurate our charting of trends in responses will be.

Here's our dilemma: From the (re)start of this process, we have been and continue to be very committed to taking community feedback, and doing everything possible to be open and responsive to all. But we've had a very tough time reaching a large segment of the voters in town.

We heard loud and clear that the community was not convinced that the bond we proposed was the right mix. But the time for your feedback to be heard while we frame our new revision of this project is now. In another month, we will have had to make critical decisions about the scope and direction of this project, and without a *much* broader scope of responses, we will be operating once again on little more than our own intuition. And what we come out with for a new vote in November may well not reflect what you think unless you tell us *right now*.

My intention with this post is singular: We need to hear from a broader swath of community members in order to make informed, responsive decisions about the direction of this project. I know it's summer and you all have other things that are more pressing right now than filling out a survey, but I plead of you to take 15 minutes and let us have it: The good, the bad and the ugly.

We've put copies of the survey at the town offices (there's a collection box there and at the school). There's a PDF available on our blog that can be printed and filled out, and it is online at Surveymonkey (link at the bottom of this post). And we don't need your name, we just want your input - anonymous responses are fine.

I hope that you're all enjoying this gorgeous summer weather, and I thank you all in advance for your time and attention!

Rubin

Surveymonkey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QZBF5JS
EMES Facilities Blog (and PDF of survey): http://emesfacilities.blogspot.com/

__________________POST JULY 10TH____________________

We have extended the date for you to mail the Survey to July 20th  

We know some of you did not get it on the mail until last Friday so we have extended the date.

We need your input!

Like we said before the more specific you can make your comments and suggestions the more useful they will be.

The collecting box at the Town Clerks office will have some black copies of the survey if you need a new copy.  They will be available June 11th at the Town Clerks Office.

You can also mail it to the School:

Facilities Committee

East Montpelier Elementary School 

665 Vincent Flats Road, 

East Montpelier, VT 05651 

If you prefer to do it online the link is http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QZBF5JS

Please get involved and tell your friends to be part of the process.

Thank you

Facilities Committee

___________________________

Now that we know the Town’s initial response to the school renovation proposal, we want to gather more information from the community.  We have mailed you a survey and we also posted the survey on line.  We hope that by now you have all received it in the mail.  

Please take a few minutes to answer these few questions before July 9th. If you prefer to do it online the link is http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QZBF5JS. Otherwise you can drop your survey at the Town Clerks Office, or EME School or mail to:

Facilities Committee

East Montpelier Elementary School 

665 Vincent Flats Road, 

East Montpelier, VT 05651 

The E. Montpelier Elementary School Board and Facilities Committee are beginning to shape a proposal to bring to the voters in November.  We are particularly interested in your comments or suggestions as we move forward. The more specific you can make them, the more useful they will be.

School bond votes are vital to all school systems and require total community involvement.   Children need sound school buildings just as they need a strong instructional program.

Respectfully,

Facilities Committee East Montpelier Elementary School

NEXT FACILITIES COMMITTEE MEETING 

JULY 9 TH

5:30 PM AT THE EAST MONTPELIER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

____________________________________________

FACILITIES COMMITTEE MEETING 

JUNE 18

5:30 PM AT THE EAST MONTPELIER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

We are working on a survey and will like your input if you can come tonight.

The School Board will be meeting at 6:30 PM too.

thanks

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

INFORMATIONAL HEARING IS 

MAY 14,2012

at 6:30 pm at the Elementary School

THE BOND VOTE WILL BE ON

 MAY 22,2012 

AT THE TOWN HALL FROM 

7am to 7 pm  

Absentee ballots are available now

FINAL PLANS FOR BOND VOTE

___________________________________________________________

PLEASE SAVE THE DATE, NEXT COMMUNITY MEETING IS 

MAY 14TH 2012

THE BOND VOTE WILL BE ON

 MAY 22,2012 

AT THE TOWN HALL FROM 

7am to 7 pm  

Absentee ballots will be available 20 days prior to vote.

____________________________________________________________

March 14,2012 Community Meeting

The meeting was well attended and very positive.  Here is the site plan and floor plan option presented.

Please look at the March 14th Page on the side bar for tax and other information.  If you have any comments please write them bellow in the comment box.

SITE PLAN Option

FLOOR PLAN Option

The next Community Meeting will be on May 9th and the final vote is tentative schedule at the Towns Clerk Office on May 22,2012

____________________________________________________________________

SAVE THE DATE FOR THE NEXT COMMUNITY MEETING MARCH 14TH AT EMES 6:30 PM




After input from Community, Staff and Facilities Committee here is the latest Option for the needs of the School.
Please give us your input and comments.

 Here are the Options Presented at our last Community Meeting January 25th,2012  
After community and staff feedback, the Facilities Committee is recommending that we move forward with Option B  overall with the Elementary PK and K1 Wing of Option A and some other small changes.  For the site plan it will be a combination of both site plans, most of Option A+B site with extra parking near the entrance.  This is still a work in progress so please give us your input and post your questions and comments.