Architect To Present School Update

By Jeff White

The Newtown Board of Education has scheduled a special meeting next Tuesday night, April 18, in order to discuss the progress of its proposed school for fifth and sixth grades with the project’s architect.

Representatives from the Hartford architect firm Jeter, Cook, and Jepson (JCJ) have been meeting with school officials over the past two months. However, this will be the first official meeting between the school board and the architect firm since funds for JCJ’s hiring were approved in a town meeting early February.

The purpose of the meeting will be to bring school board members up-to-date regarding design schematics and project timelines, and to answer any questions the board may have. Strategic Building Solutions, the 5/6 school’s project manager hired by the school board last month, is also scheduled to attend the meeting, its purpose being to act as a representative of both the school district and the town.

JCJ began their work, after initially preparing a “conceptual design” last December, in early February after receiving the endorsement by both the Legislative Council and town residents.

Next Tuesday’s meeting comes at time when the final resting place of the school is still unclear. Superintendent of Schools John R. Reed said this week that although the project’s early design phase was progressing, it was “getting slowed down” because the final site for the school has not been determined.

The school district has remained flexible as to whether the 5/6 school will go on the site now occupied by Watertown Hall or the parcel of land where Cochran House resides. To that end, school officials instructed JCJ not to be “site specific” in its early drawings and schematics.

JCJ has been developing early drawings for both the Watertown Hall and Cochran House scenarios.

“We’re getting to the point when we need to be site specific,” Dr Reed said Tuesday morning. He indicated that he felt the majority of decision-makers, including Legislative Council members, supported Watertown Hall along Wasserman Way for the school’s location.

The proposed $32.1 million school would contain two academic houses, both comprised of two stories of classrooms and laboratories, with a total of 44 classrooms. The new 5/6 school also promises to provide, among other things, five athletic fields.

The meeting Tuesday night is open to the public, and will be held in the Board of Education meeting room within the district’s main office at 7:30 pm.