The Dresden School Board voted last night to approve a referendum on a plan to rebuild the district's schools outside downtown Hanover while selling the schools' current site on Lebanon Street to Dartmouth for more than $18.6 million.
The board also voted to draft a statement for the ballot expressing its endorsement of this plan over an alternative that would cost an extra $13 million to renovate Hanover High at its current location.
The ballot will also contain an "advisory article", which will ask voters if they would prefer a new middle school to be located on the Reservoir Road property offered by Dartmouth or on land recently acquired on Route 5 in Norwich.
The vote will take place on March 5.
During an unofficial, non-binding straw poll, ten out of eleven voting members of the board voted to express their approval for the plan to exchange the Lebanon Street property for land offered by Dartmouth.
Members of the board frequently noted that, as Dartmouth has offered a sum approximately four times in excess of the value of the Lebanon Street property, the district would reap a significant financial benefit by agreeing to sell the land.
"If money weren't an issue, I'd keep Hanover High right here," board member Geoffrey Vitt said. "The property on Reservoir Road isn't so good a location for Hanover High. But the question is, is it $18.6 million not so good a location?"
Vitt went on to say that Hanover High would require "more than modest renovation." While no estimates have been made of how much such a renovation might cost, they would likely cost "more than a few million dollars."
Anne Segal, chair of the board, said that the Dresden school district would likely "get the most educational bang for its buck" by agreeing to sell the Hanover High property.
Nonetheless, the Board heard many arguments to the contrary.
Harold Frost, a resident of Etna and a professor at the Thayer School of Engineering, noted "the high value of re-using structures whenever possible."
"We'd be throwing away a lot of steel if we chose to move Hanover High," he said.
Richard Green, a Hanover resident, criticized some arguments made for allowing Hanover High to remain in its current location as "odd."
"People argue that the downtown retailers in Hanover will suffer if we move Hanover High. That's an argument involving economic development. It has nothing to do with our children's educational development," he said.
Various members of the public noted that animosity between residents of Hanover and Norwich has affected the debate.
Norwich residents will see a larger increase on their property taxes than Hanover residents after any school bond approval, and some have complained that neither of the joint district's schools are currently located on the Vermont side of the river.
Board member Mary Sachsse referred to this animosity when making a case for the necessity of an advisory article regarding the location of the new middle school.
"There are people who just really want a school in Norwich," she said.
She added that people dedicated to seeing a new school in Norwich would likely vote against allowing the land exchange if they are led to believe that both the new middle and high schools must be located on Reservoir Road.
Similarly , a proposal earlier in the evening that Hanover High should be renamed Dresden High was met with applause and cheers from some members of the audience.
