Council To Discuss Another School On The Horizon

By Steve Bigham

A meeting of the Legislative Council’s finance committee is expected to take place next week to discuss yet another possible capital expenditure for the town: another new school.

The Board of Education has discussed the possibility of having to construct another elementary school in town sometime down the road, but only if the current growth trend continues. Up until now, the issue has been broached by council members only in passing. However, the elementary school was mentioned in a footnote in the recently released report from the Fairfield Hills advisory committee.

The footnote stated: “School Board and Superintendent have stated that land [at Fairfield Hills] does not meet the location requirements for a new elementary school that has been projected in the next 3-5 years. The use of preferred neighborhood elementary schools would mean placing the next elementary school closer to the population density in Sandy Hook.”

With the issue now in writing, Legislative Council Chairman Pierre Rochman feels the proposed school needs to be discussed more seriously.

“Our capital plan does not mention that anywhere,” noted Mr Rochman. “It’s probably going to cost another $40 million to build the school so if they’re planning it now, we need to address it now.”

Mr Rochman said voters need to “have it in their minds” that they may be facing even more costs. “When they vote on next year’s budget [in April], they need to know about the next thing right on the horizon,” he said.

Mr Rochman has been especially outspoken this year in opposition to the proposed $69 million budget, which represents a 2.9 mill increase or 10.3 percent.

Finance Committee Chairman John Kortze has agreed to schedule a meeting, but says that it may be somewhat premature.

“First, if anything like that were to happen, I think it’s far enough away to get us beyond the spiking point. Number two this is not a new item. It has not been in writing up until now. It’s not in writing, but we’ve talked about it openly. We’ve even talked about potential sites,” Mr Kortze said.

Superintendent of Schools John R. Reed called it “ludicrous” to call a meeting to talk about something that may never come to pass. “We have no reason to believe a new school is going to be necessary right now,” he said. “That’s pure speculation. The first thing we have to do is see how close we are to our school population growth for next year – six percent.”

Dr Reed suggested Pierre Rochman may be trying to scare people into voting down the current budget. Mr Rochman says he is simply trying to provide all the facts.