Among nine possible scenarios for expanding Hanover High and Richmond Middle School presented at a meeting of the Dresden School District Monday night, five involve Dartmouth purchasing the land the buildings currently occupy -- for four times its appraised value.
The College has offered to pay $26.5 million for the Lebanon Street lot, which administrators have previously said could be converted to athletic fields or used as the site for the construction of additional faculty or graduate student housing.
A purchase by the College, however, could be highly beneficial for Dresden, making possible a renovation for a little as $19 million dollars, without which the improvement could cost as much as $53 million.
"Negotiations with Dartmouth were hard," Dresden school board member Geoffrey Vitt told the Valley News. "We took a hard-line position. It is the belief of this school board that we got Dartmouth to make the maximum commitment they were willing to make."
Dresden school board chairperson Anne Seigal previously told The Dartmouth that the goal of the district was to strike "a favorable deal" with the College.
While the proposed purchase is economically advantageous for the public school district, Dartmouth's decision to offer so much more for the Lebanon Street site than it is worth on the market takes into account the College's interest in the quality of the local schools.
"The quality of the local schools and the way that relates to the character of our community is of critical interest to Dartmouth," Associate Provost Margaret Dyer Chamberlain said last fall. "It's really about the College's long-term stake in the quality of life in the community."
If Dartmouth does acquire the land, the two public schools would be relocated to locations outside downtown Hanover. Other possibilities include relocating just one of the schools or renovating both where they stand now.
However, renovation on site is one of the most expensive of the nine options.
Land owned by the College off Reservoir Road, land belonging to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center on Route 120 and a tract already owned by Dresden on Route 5 in Norwich are the three possible sites for relocation.
Dresden School District -- which draws students from Hanover and Norwich, Vt. -- has been looking for ways to alleviate crowding in its high and middle schools for more than five years.
A bond issue for $40 million was put on hold last October when a Dartmouth contribution to the school improvement effort became a serious possibility.
The school board plans to form a committee to gather public input and eliminate seven of the scenarios next fall before submitting the two remaining options in November, which would make the final decision.
According to a tentative schedule mapped out at Monday's meeting, a bond vote would take place in November, with construction completed in time for the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year.
Some Hanover residents are uncomfortable with moving the schools, worrying that the loss of the teenagers from the downtown area could change the atmosphere of the town.
While some others have expressed concerns about Dartmouth "domination" of the town of Hanover, College Real Estate Director Paul Olsen noted last fall that assurances have been communicated to Dresden officials that the Lebanon Street land would not become an extension of the core campus.
