During a Zoom meeting Wednesday night, the School Committee reaffirmed its decision to move forward with paving on Loop Road as part of the Hopkins School project.

The committee previously approved a change order of up to $1.8 million to expand the scope of work within the Hopkins School project. Town Meeting approved borrowing for the overall work a few years ago.

Both town counsel and school counsel agreed the decision to expand the project’s scope is under the purview of the School Committee. However, some members of the Appropriation Committee and Select Board disagreed with the process, saying it appeared to “circumvent” the way things usually are done.

On March 26, the Select Board and School Committee met to discuss the situation and, at times, that conversation got contentious. Select Board chair Joe Clark said he was in favor of having a Special Town Meeting on the same day as Annual Town Meeting to bring up the matter, and on Tuesday night, the Select Board voted to call that Special Town Meeting.

School Committee chair Kyla McSweeney noted Clark told her it is up to the School Committee to put an article about paving Loop Road on the Special Town Meeting warrant. Otherwise, the warrant expires after 30 days.

Wednesday’s meeting was to outline the pros and cons of what should be done.

Member Chris Masters, who was not at the previous week’s meeting, said that changing course now only would delay necessary work and likely cost more money in the future.

Susan Rothermich, assistant superintendent of finance and operations, said that Loop Road paving was talked about as being part of the original project if money was available. She stated, “That was always the message.”

Superintendent Evan Bishop listed numerous meeting dates from 2023 to the present when the paving was discussed in open meetings and no objections were raised, other than in one email.

Rothermich said timing would not be so much of an issue if the current contractor got the bid to expand the area of road paved. However, if the district can’t give a “notice to proceed” quickly enough, Rothermich is concerned another bidder would not hold off on its summer work and wait for the Hopkins project to resume.

Members also spoke about creating a cumbersome future precedent of having to bring change orders to Town Meeting every time and the delays that would cause.

Member Nancy Cavanaugh said setting a cap on change orders most likely would be handled by a town bylaw change and not a charter change, given that charters only are reviewed every 10 years.

Cavanaugh also spoke about possible “ramifications” should the board reaffirm its approval of the change order and move forward.

While noting she supported that vote, Cavanaugh said, “My concern is we went before boards for support and a united front and got the opposite of that.”

She said the committee must be aware that there could be “fallout” in the next budgetary cycles.

Masters asked if Cavanaugh was speaking about “unintended consequences.” She replied that one Select Board member said he would vote down the entire town budget. Further, three members of the Select Board stated their disagreement in a vote to put their feelings on the record.

Two members of the Appropriation Committee also were vehemently opposed to the change order approval.

“[Some] Appropriation Committee members were angry in the same way,” Cavanaugh said. “There was not a lot of warm, fuzzy support from them either.”

Masters reiterated the committee should remain with its original decision.

“Quite honestly, using budget threats as leverage is not appropriate,” he said. “It is petty and does not reflect how a town should be operating. … Our focus should be on the students, the school and the greater community as well as their tax dollars.”

Added Masters: My experience with buildings, renovations and construction is the further you kick the can down the road, it is almost always more expensive.”

Vice chair Susan Stephenson noted that Loop Road serves as a driveway for Hopkins School and naturally is part of the school’s overall renovation project.

Cavanaugh said change orders for Hopkins are different from ones from previous projects because there is no School Building Committee to oversee them as there is for the Charleswood project, for example.

“This put us in a difficult position up against a deadline that can change the trajectory of this project,” she said.

Rothermich noted any unspent money in the Hopkins project budget becomes “rescinded debt” or that much less the town borrows.

Member Jamie Wronka talked about drafting a statement of some kind, possibly to be read at the next School Committee meeting.

“We don’t need a vote to put our feelings on record,” she added.

Instead, Bishop planned to post something on the district website and send out some form of opinion — with rationale for moving forward.

“It will be cheaper. It will be quicker. The work needs to be done. The money is there. We’re in the scope of what we are able to do,” said Masters.