The Future Forecast Committee has been continuing to meet since its first meeting on March 15.

The group held two more meetings this month, with members continuing to look at the district's space needs and projected enrollment.

A Facilities and Enrollment Committee presented a report to the Board of Education in June 2015, which recommended closing Hawley Elementary School due to declining enrollment, while offering cost estimates for closing the elementary school or Newtown Middle School. At a June 24 special meeting, the Board of Education unanimously decided that no school would be closed for the 2016-17 school year, and it would continue its general discussion on the best use of school district facilities.

At a February 4 meeting the school board voted to charge the new committee to "research the use of school facilities in light of projected enrollment changes in Newtown." The February charge also asked the new committee's report to include details from the 2015 district facilities study, discussion on "why numbers from peak enrollment are not comparable to numbers now," and next steps for school facilities usage.

The Future Forecast Committee is charged by the school board to prepare its report by the end of June.

Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, shared enrollment numbers from the start of the 2015-16 school year with committee members at the Tuesday, March 22, meeting to show the difference between projected enrollment and actual enrollment.

As of October 2015, Dr Erardi said total enrollment in the kindergarten through fourth grade population was 1,323. The prediction, made between April and May of 2014, Dr Erardi said, was 1,321 students would be enrolled for that date.

"From a statistical analysis, it's spot on," said Dr Erardi.

Dr Erardi said he would be asking the administrators to project their own enrollment for next school year for the committee to use.

As the committee begins to look at the projected enrollment decline, by age levels, and space needs in the district, Dr Erardi said the projections share a possible decline from 4,682 students in the 2014-15 school year to 2,425 ten years later.

"What that tells you is that after the first five years, you begin to almost flatten," Dr Erardi said.

He also pointed out the enrollment for kindergarten to fourth grade is projected to decrease by about 12 percent over the next four years, but the elementary schools will begin to fill again by the end of the projected timeline.

Newtown High School by 2024-25, Dr Erardi said, is projected to have a roughly 35 percent enrollment decrease.

Dr Erardi later told the group the high school's last renovation made the space appropriate for roughly 2,200 students, and by 2025, Dr Erardi said, the projected enrollment at the high school is roughly 1,100.

Dr Erardi said the committee should use the enrollment projections as the best available data on future enrollment while completing its studies.

The superintendent also asked the committee members to remember its charges from the Board of Education when looking at the data.

Committee members were also asked by the superintendent to think of community members and experts they would like to hear from during the course of their research.

Near the start of the March 29 meeting Dr Erardi shared information from last year's Facilities and Enrollment Committee's findings, and possible reconfigurations of the district if a school is closed.

The committee also later talked about possible uses of unused space if a school is not closed.

Director of Facilities Gino Faiella answered a number of questions from the committee members, around space needs, conditions of buildings, and requirements if a school is closed and reopened eventually.

Committee members spoke about how the group's individual subcommittees will look at aspects of the research. They also spoke about possibilities for the space in the schools with lower enrollment, and how and if the committee should present the Board of Education with ideas and options to investigate as the committee continues its work.

"I am certain that with the integrity and the high quality of committee members the school board will have a thorough examination of the problem of practice presented to them in June," Dr Erardi said on Wednesday, March 30.

The Future Forecast Committee is expected to meet weekly, with some exceptions, until June.