School committee approves three-year lease extension, adds office space to relieve high-school crowding

Hopkinton School Committee voted Sept. 4 to approve a three-year lease with Honey Hill Farms for the district central office and an optional additional 1,400 square feet of contiguous space, effective Jan. 1. Committee discussion described the base year rent for existing space at about $132,851 and the additional prorated cost for the new contiguous space beginning Jan. 1 expected to add approximately $12,425 for the remainder of the fiscal year; full-year rent for the combined space was described as roughly $144,000. The additional space would be used to consolidate the technology department, which currently occupies multiple rooms in the high school, and thereby free at least one classroom and some office space for school use. The superintendent and finance staff said the unbudgeted cost for the partial year (stated as about $10,346) could be covered by underspent accounts before the fiscal year’s end and will be budgeted in FY27. Committee members asked about long-term options: staff said town-owned buildings are currently full and that Elmwood’s consolidation and Charleswood project might create options in several years, but that for the next three years there is no viable town-owned location. The motion passed by voice vote.