A proposal for repair work at Haverhill’s William H. Moody School remains in limbo today because of a possible misunderstanding between Haverhill school administrators and the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
At the last School Committee meeting, Haverhill Facilities Director Stephen D. Dorrance said the 107-year-old building needs some preventive maintenance to its roof, windows and heating system in order to avoid problems in the future. He said those particular issues make it a good candidate for the state’s Accelerated Repair Program which would cover much of the cost.
However, when Assistant School Superintendent Michael J. Pfifferling attempted to start an online application, it would not let him do so.
“This morning I started receiving information and I went to enter it into the MSBA’s application and the Moody Pre-school was grayed out, would not let me enter it. So, I contacted the MSBA and they reported back that Moody was a pre-school and they don’t support pre-schools through the MSBA program,” he said Thursday night.
Pfifferling explained the school was going to be a kindergarten next year, making it eligible. However, as of last night’s School Committee meeting, the website still would not accept the application. He said, at this point, it is not known whether the MSBA has decided the city should wait until next year to make the application or if they simply have not updated their information.
School Committee member Richard J. Rosa reminded the committee that, additionally, the window of opportunity to submit any application this year will be closing soon.
“If we’re going to submit a statement of interest, we need to vote on it next week so the city council has time to vote on it,” he said.
He and Pfifferling both suggested if the Moody school is not eligible this year, the administration should switch gears and submit an application for the Silver Hill Elementary School instead. Dorrance has also identified that building as needing continuous roof repair work. Rosa said it would be better to have the state help pay for a new roof on that facility.
Committee members agreed they would vote on the issue at a special meeting next Thursday.