Newtown High School Expansion

Took Root In 2009 And Will Bear Fruit In 2010

By Eliza Hallabeck

Thoughts and words grew to the strength of steel during 2009, as the Newtown High School expansion and renovation project went from a concept to a forming concrete creation.

Work on the project, which broke ground on May 28 during a formal ceremony at NHS, continues roughly on schedule, according to recent reports to the Board of Education from both NHS Principal Charles Dumais and Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson. By the first day of the upcoming 2010-2011 school year, the expansion should be completed for students to walk through the school’s new main entrance. The renovation portion of the project is slated for completion in January 2011.

Before shovels broke ground in May, the project began 2009 as a concept still being debated. During a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen on January 5, Selectmen Paul Mangiafico and Herb Rosenthal started the year by both requesting First Selectman Joe Borst to call a meeting with school district officials and the Board of Education to clarify whether or not it would still make sense to rebid the high school expansion project as it stood.

Voters had already indicated they were not willing to spend more than the originally approved $38.8 million to complete the project as proposed after a special appropriation to cover cost overruns in excess of $6 million was turned down in a separate referendum the previous October. Mr Rosenthal reminded the board during the January 5 meeting that he voted against modifying contracts with the architect and construction management firm to initiate the preparation of new bid requests, and said that he still believes it will “waste time and money” by rebidding the project.

“The architect and construction manager were not really encouraging [about saving] $6 million by rebidding,” Mr Rosenthal said. “We need to have a discussion with the Public Building and Site Commission, the Board of Finance, and members of the Board of Ed. The longer we delay this, the more it will cost us in the end.”

Nine days later, the Board of Ed began 2009 facing a budget challenge and the NHS expansion and renovation project. During its first meeting of the year, the board discussed bonding portable classrooms. Dr Robinson told the school board she was working on scheduling a joint meeting between the Board of Selectmen and other town boards to discuss rebidding the high school expansion. Bids were planned to go out to contractors the week of February 23, and planned to come back a month later in March, Dr Robinson said while referencing a letter from The Morganti Group, the firm overseeing construction on the project. One of the biggest issues, Dr Robinson said, was a redesign would require more money be spent, leaving the town with less of a project.

At the start of February, the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) approved a zoning variance for the school system allowing it to place temporary portable classroom buildings on the A-Wing side of Newtown High School (NHS), on an existing parking lot near Berkshire Road. The zoning variance, which was unanimously granted by the ZBA, allowed the structure to be positioned in the area within the front setback line of the high school, closer to Berkshire Road than would normally be allowed by the zoning regulations. The site is in a M-5 (Industrial) zone. The approximately 8,700-square-foot structure would contain eight portable classrooms, offices, restrooms, and closets. A nearby four-classroom portable structure already in place would remain in use. To compensate for the 35 parking spaces lost when the new modular classroom space was installed, 35 temporary parking spaces were planned to be created near the school’s sports stadium.

The day following bids opening for the NHS expansion project, Ed Barrett, project manager with The Morganti Group, told The Bee he was cautiously optimistic bids appeared to be trending under budget.

“At present we are under budget, but we still won’t know for sure for a couple of weeks,” said Mr Barrett on Thursday, March 26.

While bids for the expansion and renovation project came in over budget by $6 million in 2008, 2009 saw bids return $1 million under budget. Dr Robinson told The Bee on April 21, moments after receiving the news from representatives of The Morganti Group, that Newtown would have its long-awaited and badly needed expansion project.

“We’re more than a million under budget, and that includes all the alternates including the driveway relocation,” Dr Robinson said.

Later in the week, Board of Education Chair Elaine McClure asked the school board, “Did you hear that? That the high school has come in under?” School board members answered with applause.

The Public Building and Site Commission unanimously approved the NHS expansion project to be brought before the Board of Selectmen during the commission’s meeting on Tuesday, April 28.

“What we’re going to do today is take a look at the numbers in a general term within the bonding issue,” said Commission Chair Robert Mitchell at the start of the meeting.

He said the guaranteed maximum price to the town for the project was presented by The Morganti Group as $33,729,052. That number includes everything other than what was listed below the line items, such as furniture.

“We’re looking at a total project budget of $41,576,000, which is approximately $1.1 million under the approved amount for the total budget,” Mr Mitchell said.

The Board of Selectmen met on May 4, and approved going out to bond for the construction phase of the high school addition.

Breaking Ground

Over two weeks later, a crowd gathered on the slightly misty morning of Thursday, May 28, in the back parking lot of Newtown High School to witness the start of a project many have worked toward.

“All the different people at all the different stages have come together to put one huge project together,” said Newtown High School Principal Charles Dumais at the groundbreaking ceremony for the project. After Mr Dumais, Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson, First Selectman Joe Borst, and Board of Education Chair Elaine McClure spoke, shovels were handed out and stuck in the ground, marking the start of the Newtown High School expansion and renovation project.

“People have put endless hours of work in bringing people together, informing people,” said Dr Robinson to the crowd. “From the students giving their voice in film, which was magnificent, to PTAs, to the community members, to people with vision coming together to make this happen for Newtown.”

The expansion project, she said, is an example of the emphasis Newtown places on education.

“Whatever role you had in this, I hope that every time you pass this high school, every time you visit this high school for the rest of your life,” said Dr Robinson, “you will feel the pride that you made something very important happen for the children of Newtown.”

With school out, work on the project continued during the summer, and Arthur Lindley, project manager with The Morganti Group, told The Bee in July, work continued to go smoothly on the project.

Much of the work scheduled for the summer happened underground, as Mr Lindley said at the time.

Over the summer, all programs, other than summer school, were moved out of the high school, and, Mr Lindley said, this would help make the construction work being done as safe as possible.

By September 2, when students returned to school for the start of the 2009-2010 year, Mr Dumais and Mr Lindley both agreed work on the project was continuing to go smoothly, and separation between students and workers on the construction project was working well.

In the end of the November, the crane seated in the back of the NHS campus was no longer in use, and Mr Dumais brought The Bee along for a tour of the expansion as it looked. Throughout the project’s work Mr Dumais posted updates and photos on his blog, www. dumais.us/newtown/blog. By the start of the 2010-2011 school year, students will be in the expansion, and work on the renovation part of the project is planned to be underway.

John Voket and Andrew Gorosko contributed to this story.