Braintree committee reviews six redistricting options, town finance office warns of $100 million in building needs

Braintree School Committee members on Feb. 10 reviewed six options from consultants at Sanborn/AppGeo for elementary redistricting and possible school closures, and heard town staff outline the fiscal trade-offs of keeping more buildings open.

Superintendent Jim Lee opened the discussion, saying the district has not redistricted in roughly 20 years and that “outdated district boundaries have caused inequitable class sizes and building enrollments.” The consultant team led by Priya Sekalia of Sanborn presented six scenario families that either keep all six elementary schools open with redistricting or use the town’s Old South building and close combinations of smaller schools such as Ross, Highlands or Liberty.

The options were framed around three priorities that surfaced in the community survey: financial sustainability, minimizing student disruption, and following the facilities condition report. “What we decided based on what you’ve heard from Jim, we we have 6 options to present you today,” Priya Sekalia told the committee.

Town finance director Mike Esmond told the committee the facilities work done with the schools and facilities staff shows “roughly about $100,000,000 in capital investments” would be required to address major building-system deficiencies across the…