Politics & Government

Town Meeting Backs Bridge and Bowman Renovations

Via voice vote, Lexington Town Meeting approved funding for renovations to extend the useful lives of the Bridge and Bowman elementary schools in a special session held Monday, Nov. 14.

Questions and opposition were scarce Monday night as a special session of Lexington Town Meeting voted in favor of funding a $21.67 million project to renovate the Bridge and Bowman elementary schools.

The Nov. 14 vote was the , as $1,030,000 of the $22.7 million total project cost was appropriated in a prior session.

Now, members of the schools community will focus their efforts on getting the project passed at the polls this January at a special town election, which could also see a debt exclusion request for more than after the Massachusetts School Building Authority agreed to work with the town to .

Find out what's happening in Lexingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We’re very pleased that Town Meeting voted again to support the Bridge and Bowman renovation projects and now the work begins to work hard on the debt exclusion,” School Committee Chairwoman Mary Ann Stewart said Monday night. “We will be working hard to see that the project is passed by the voters in town.”

According to Stewart, the “Yes for Our Schools” campaign is officially underway and has a Facebook page, which folks can “Like” to access updates and videos showing school conditions, like a 40-year-old boiler.

Find out what's happening in Lexingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Voters should begin to become informed,” said Stewart. “I’m sure once we get rolling there will be opportunities to meet in various settings and there will be a campaign kickoff at some point, so more information will be forthcoming.”

Established Support

After Stewart’s presentation to Town Meeting—which included , the prospects of reimbursements from the Massachusetts School Building Authority and anticipated impact on taxpayers—members of other town boards took turns speaking in favor of the Bridge and Bowman projects.

The Capital Expenditures, Appropriation, Permanent Buildings and, of course, the School committees all voted to back the project, as did the Board of Selectmen.

Speaking for the Capital Expenditures Committee, David Kanter said his board believes it’s important to provide, in a timely manner, equal opportunity to education for all elementary school students.

The best way to do that, he said, is to support this proposal because would be the next priority after Estabrook, meaning it would take at least a decade before the town could reasonably rebuild Bridge and/or Bowman, which have been described as structurally sound with failing systems.

Representatives from the Appropriation and Permanent Building committees expressed similar sentiments. , with the lone dissenter being Peter Kelley, who would prefer to see new schools built.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Lexington