Norwood School Committee Votes to Relocate School Administration Offices-August 1, 1974

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The Norwood School Committee voted 5 to 2 last night to relocate the town’s school administration offices to the Winslow School, contingent upon cost estimates proving favorable. The motion, introduced by William F. Egan, passed with support from most of the board, while committee members Richard Joseph and Joseph M. Pentowski cast the dissenting votes.

Along with housing central administration, the Winslow School would accommodate business operations, the supervisor of custodians, buildings and grounds, the director of food services, and office spaces for art, music, and physical education coordinators. The facility would additionally function as an audiovisual center, house a professional library, provide space for a bilingual education program, and serve as headquarters for a federally funded employment program covering fifteen towns. Furthermore, the board previously voted to allow a federally funded regional special education program from Medfield and Dedham to locate at the Winslow School.

Chairman Charles C. Saraca favored the move only after William F. Egan made the project contingent upon cost estimates to be delivered to the committee by Superintendent Philip O. Coakley the following week. Chairman Saraca criticized Philip O. Coakley for not having immediate figures available regarding potential rental income if the current administration building on Walpole Street were vacated. The board decided to meet at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday at the Shattuck School to tour both older, phased-out elementary schools before their next meeting.

Discussions regarding the future uses of the Winslow and Shattuck schools had been under study since the spring. Joseph M. Pentowski unsuccessfully attempted to convince the board to retain the Shattuck School for educational purposes, citing its suitability for pupil personnel services, pre-school screening, and special education compliance under Chapter 766. However, Philip O. Coakley indicated he would prioritize the Shattuck if forced to choose, while board member Patricia O. Prindle expressed strong unhappiness with the Shattuck proposal, arguing that the main thrust of Chapter 766 was to integrate children with special needs into regular classrooms rather than segregating them.

In other business, the committee voted to change its meeting format, opening with executive sessions on appointments and resignations when necessary before moving into open session for votes. Chairman Charles C. Saraca announced he had signed an application for $285,000 in state reimbursement for special education programs, while the board also addressed kindergarten and sixth-grade overcrowding concerns at the Willett School raised by PTA co-presidents Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Turner. Additionally, the committee directed Philip O. Coakley to consult legal counsel Francis L. Kelly of Weymouth regarding fifteen principals and vice principals whom the committee refused to recognize as members of the Norwood Teachers Association (NTA) collective bargaining group following a recent state law ruling them managerial personnel.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger