DENNIS – Finance Committee members from towns in the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School District gathered at Dennis Town Hall Wednesday night to talk about the school’s proposed building project.
The Dennis Finance Committee hosted the workshop, where members had a chance to discuss their concerns about the project and ask questions.
Cape Tech Superintendent Robert Sanborn was not invited to the workshop by the organizers, but attended the event as a member of the public and stood up after the discussion to answer questions.
Former State Representative Cleon Turner and Former Brewster Town Administrator Charles Sumner accompanied Sanborn to the workshop.
Both sit on the project’s board.
The costs for a new school as opposed to the cost to renovate instead were some of the biggest questions and concerns that the members had.
Sanborn said that the project’s board looked at all the options available and voted for a new facility.
“I’ve been there since 1994, as a teacher, business manager and now superintendent,” said Sanborn. “It was a unanimous vote of what I think is an extremely experienced committee that vetted seven or six options.”
Last week, the Massachusetts School Building Authority approved up to a $41 million grant to build the new school.
That brings the cost of the new school to around $128 million, which will be shared by the 12 towns that are part of the school’s district.
The cost for each town’s contribution is based on how many students from each town attend the school.
“Is this the best approach and the best use of limited financial resources that all the towns have and all the issues that Dennis certainly is and I’m sure all of you are facing significant financial pressures in another projects that are going to have to be addressed,” said Dennis Finance Committee member Lester Jay Murphy.
The new school is designed to hold 650 students.
Barnstable, which has the most students at 173, is looking at paying about 28 percent of the cost.
The project will go before voters in all of the district’s 12 towns on October 24.
If approved, groundbreaking would start in the fall of 2019 with completion expected in the summer of 2021.
Towns are not expected to feel a financial impact until 2020.
By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com Newscenter
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