School Bd Delays Vote On High School Expansion

By Susan Coney

At a lengthy school board meeting Tuesday night, representatives of the architectural firm Fletcher Thompson outlined the most recent concept for addressing overcrowding at Newtown High School, known as Option E.

That drew pointed questions and sharp comments from residents, which ultimately prodded the Board of Education to put off a final decision on its high school expansion preference.

Option E nestles a new addition along the south side of the existing school, adjacent to the gymnasium. The project would add several classrooms, a satellite cafeteria with a multipurpose stage, and a satellite kitchen.

Areas currently housing graphic arts, auto shop, culinary, child development, and music would be expanded and renovated. The proposal would allows work to be done in a relatively undisruptive manner because of the placement of the addition. The option also adds 100 parking spaces to the high school.

The three-story expansion would provide an additional 66,000 square feet to accommodate a capacity of up to 2,100 students at a cost of $35,824,876. Representatives of Fletcher Thompson provided data that the school could be further expanded by adding four additional classrooms to the scheme that would allow for a capacity of 2,200 students, providing 71,000 square feet at a cost of $37,570,141. Further, the architects assured board members that the proposal has the capability to expand up to 76,000 square feet to accommodate 2,300 students at a cost of $39,738,906.

Newtown would be eligible to receive up to 32.8 percent in state reimbursements, bringing the estimated cost to the town to just over $22 million for a 66,000-square-foot expansion, $23 million for a 71,000-square-foot expansion and $24 million for a 76,000-square-foot expansion.

Two members of the Board of Education, Tom Gissen and Paul Mangiafico, commented that a 76,000-square-foot expansion would provide the town with “the most for their money” by adding an additional 10,000 square feet to the school at a cost of $3.9 million.

Mr Mangiafico has repeatedly expressed his opposition to an expansion that would be overcrowded by the time the project is completed.

The state deadline to file for the school construction grant is June 30. The State of Connecticut only accepts applications for renovations and building projects one time during the year. The state will not accept an application until the town accepts the project. Board member Paul Mangiafico questioned the feasibility of having everything ready for the application process and funding approved by the Board of Education, the Board of Finance, the Legislative Council, and a townwide referendum in time for that deadline.

Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff responded that work to be done by school officials in preparing documentation for the application could be completed and it could be passed by the Board of Education in time to meet the deadline, but he could not speak on behalf of other town bodies that would have to approve the financing of the project.

Public Comment

During the public participation portion of the meeting several residents spoke offering opinions and raising questions. The board, which has a policy of not directly engaging the public in dialogue at its meetings, recorded the questions and attempted to provide answers to each question later that evening.

Resident Po Murray spoke on behalf of a new group called We Care About Newtown, (WECAN). “While we continue to believe that a new high school at Fairfield Hills would be the best possible long-term solution to address the high school space needs and other educational and town space needs, based on the new information received on this redesigned high school addition option which seems to address the needs beyond the projected enrollment numbers, we recognize that we are facing the realities of the timeline limitations and we understand why the Board of Education would consider such an option.”

Resident Janis Solheim commented that she is especially concerned about the size of the gymnasium, stating that none of the options for expansion have addressed that area of the building. She said that the gym facility is too small to accommodate most events. She agreed that Option E seemed like a good choice, but urged the board to think about enlarging the gymnasium.

PTA President Sarah Beier expressed frustration with school officials, saying that she, on behalf of the PTA, had provided the Board of Education with a four-page list of questions regarding the space needs of the town, and she had not received a single response.

“It would be a mistake to make a decision on an option that was just made available in the last 48 hours. The date on the document is February 21. Why did it take so long for this to be addressed to the public? In 48 hours we are supposed to get all of our questions in now so that you can make a decision by 11 pm tonight,” Ms Beier said.

Joe Costa, representative of Fletcher Thompson, clarified that the document was completed on February 21, however it needed to be copied and delivered, which accounted for the time delay in reaching the public.

Later in the meeting school board member Andrew Buzzi responded to Ms Beier’s claim that Option E was a brand new option just being explored. Mr Buzzi said, “This is not a new project, it is the same project we have been addressing for the last six months — simply a refinement we’ve been working on for six months after learning information from the community and other input.”

He continued, “I think this is a good response that addresses the issues but this is not a new project. It is a refinement. I am happy to review the level of this refinement. I don’t think any option is off the table.”

Board member Lisa Schwartz agreed that Option E was not really a new project, but out of respect for the feelings addressed by some members of the community during the public participation portion of the meeting she wanted to hold off in taking a vote on the proposal that night.

Board Chairman Elaine McClure said, “We have done a lot of work on this. When I first saw this option with David [Nanavaty] on March 1, it just looked like this option fit. When we saw this addition come across the table everything came together. It addresses all of the concerns. It looks like this has potential. What we want to do is address all the concerns and be able to afford it. If we end up with 2,200 [student] capacity then we can stay on site.”

Dr Pitkoff agreed, saying, “This is kind of a hybrid. It allows us to maximize the number of course offerings of a bigger school and still keep a sense of a one high school town. It also provides the opportunity to help provide an easier transition for ninth graders.”

Dr Pitkoff noted that Board of Ed member Tom Gissen had previously met with Fairfield Hills Authority Chairman Robert Geckle to discuss the possibility of building a high school or satellite school at Fairfield Hills. Mr Gissen reported that Mr Geckle believed that roughly 80 acres could be used by a school but stressed that some of the areas to be used by the school would be shared areas such as playing fields.

Mr Gissen reported that there is sufficient acreage at Fairfield Hills to support a new high school.

Late in the evening, after much discussion, Mr Buzzi suggested that instead of commencing a “full philosophical discussion” at 11:15 pm, the board hold off on a decision about the high school until its next meeting on March 21.

In other business, the board unanimously voted to approve a request to ask the Board of Finance to include in its budget $5.9 million for the Hawley renovation project. The board requested $2,419,000 be included in the 2006/2007 fiscal year with the balance to be included in the 2007-2008 year.