A Letter That Didn't Make It Into The Clipper

There were nine pages of letters in the Duxbury Clipper yesterday -- and even then, some didn't make the cut. The following is a letter that didn't make it, by Matthew Ali.
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I am an architect who has participated in the planning and design of three $100M plus buildings for higher education in the past seven years, two of which are public projects in Massachusetts. I am familiar with planning and design for large buildings dedicated to learning. There are many relevant factors to the process Duxbury is going through in regard to the schools but the three most important items are long term planning, trusted project leadership and cost control.

Major capital expenditures require long term planning to avoid bundling of costs and wasteful emergency repairs. We are being asked to pay for a series of new buildings simultaneously, during a time when some residents are affected by a poor economic environment. This situation is more of a result of the Town’s planning process than a recession. Renovation may have been an option many years ago; now the buildings are so neglected that this is no longer feasible. Planning does not imply excessive spending; in fact it is the opposite. Everyone benefits from identifying and agreeing on asset reinvestment needs and executing improvements in a methodical manner. New construction becomes the economically preferred option when regular improvements are not made, as is the case with the schools.

We need to trust the group charged with running the project. The individuals on the School Building Committee are qualified, dedicated and reasonable and have professional experience with education, construction and financial management. If there are questions about the education benchmarks, cost planning or needs assessment, just ask them. There is no need to accept their recommendations on blind faith and the SBC benefits from questions addressed to them directly.  Publicly proposing alternate plans without the requisite data or relevant professional experience has the appearance of attempting to discredit the Committee’s work rather than objective inquiry. 

There is no substitute for proper project management to keep the costs of the project in check. This includes controlling the project scope (size of buildings, program of spaces, etc.), allocating a realistic budget, and relentless scheduling review. Representatives from the schools, Town, designer and contractor must sit at one table to resolve conflicts and be held collectively responsible. Contingencies should be used to protect against overruns and total project costs should be identified; in this case, the SBC has done both. There are tools for managing any large construction project and specialized tools for publicly funded work in our state. Applying these tools will bring this project in on time and on budget.

The graduates of Duxbury have done well despite the obsolete buildings, but we can no longer dismiss the substandard conditions the children are learning in. Schools at all levels are adjusting teaching pedagogies and their campuses to the highly interactive and information rich world we live in now – our kids do not learn like we did. New school construction is the most cost effective way to provide the flexible, interactive and technologically appropriate learning environment for generations to come.