Select Board endorses school department’s Statement of Interest to MSBA for Lawrence School assessment

The Falmouth Select Board voted Jan. 6 to authorize the School Department to file a Statement of Interest (SOI) with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for a potential renovation of the Lawrence School.

Superintendent Lori Durham and Paul Dart, the district’s director of finance and operations, told the board the vote is a procedural step to put Falmouth on the MSBA’s list for consideration; it does not commit the district or the town to construction, nor does it obligate financing. Durham said the School Committee voted Dec. 10 to submit the SOI.

Paul Dart said initial site assessment work will be required if the MSBA accepts Falmouth into the program; the town has set aside $132,000 from a broader $500,000 town building‑condition study appropriation to pay for a detailed MSBA‑style assessment. That assessment would feed later work should the MSBA invite the district into the grant program.

Board members asked about timing. Officials estimated the district would submit the SOI by the early spring deadline (internal deadline March 31, MSBA deadline April 12), receive an MSBA decision late in the year, and—if invited to the next stage—return to the board in 2026 for a vote on funding to hire designers and project managers. Construction, if approved and funded, would follow later and could extend into the 2030s depending on scope.

A handful of residents attended and raised process concerns; one commenter said he was uneasy about current district leadership, and another asked how the $132,000 assessment was funded. Officials said the assessment money is part of a town appropriation approved at town meeting and that the building study will be done by a consultant with MSBA experience.

The board voted unanimously to approve the SOI submission.