School Bd Weighs 5/6 School Site

By Jeff White

During its workshop meeting next Tuesday night, the Newtown Board of Education will begin to discuss the site for its proposed 5/6 school with the aim of eventually asking for the town’s permission to build on the Watertown Hall site, school board Chairman Elaine McClure said this week.

“The important part that came out of [last week’s] presentation was that we can’t keep both sites,” Mrs McClure said Wednesday.

The Board of Education met with the 5/6 school’s architects and project manager during its April 18 meeting. Representatives of Strategic Building Solutions (SBS), the 5/6 school project manager, cautioned the school board against continuing schematic design plans for two possible school sites, Watertown Hall and Fairfield Hills, lest they begin to incur major dual design fees and project delays.

The school district received the Legislative Council’s endorsement for architectural funding late February on the condition that it remained flexible toward the 5/6 school’s final location. To that end, the district’s 5/6 school architect – Jeter, Cook and Jepson (JCJ) – have drafted design plans for a school located where Watertown Hall now sits, and for a school that would be located somewhere in the heart of Fairfield Hills’ core campus.

Although this was appropriate initially, JCJ and SBS officials explained to the school board last week that the town only approved funding for one schematic design, not two, and that a site needed to be determined by May 1 to keep the project on schedule, with its budget intact.

Although JCJ has said that there would be little difference in school design between the two options, in the mind of Mrs McClure there is a substantial difference in locating a school on the Fairfield Hills campus instead of at Watertown Hall.

Mrs McClure said this week that tying the district’s 5/6 school to Fairfield Hills would only serve to delay its completion. Besides having to wait for the town to consent to purchase the property, the school would also have to wait for a Fairfield Hills master plan to be developed, she explained.

The school district has expressed in the past its need for the 5/6 school to be in place by the fall of 2002 to address continuing crowding issues at existing schools. As it stands now, if the project is “fast tracked,” it could be completed as early as the end of September, later than the district hoped for, yet sooner than if it were tied to Fairfield Hills.

The school board could opt to move on the Watertown Hall parcel of land as early as its next voting meeting, May 9, at which it could officially decide to ask the town’s permission. Besides allowing the school board to expedite the project sooner, the town-owned Watertown Hall appears to be the more practical option because SBS’ project budget and proposed timeline were designed with Watertown Hall in mind.

Board of Education vice-chairman Vince Saviano makes his living as a project manager, and he understands the elasticity of timelines once a project gets underway. In his mind, the best 5/6 school option is the one that allows the project to commence sooner rather than later.

 “I support either site. My issue has always been timing,” Mr Saviano said Wednesday.

Superintendent of Schools John R. Reed said this week that as the dual design period comes to an end early next week. Continuing with considering both Fairfield Hills and Watertown Hall as possible school sites would force design teams to expand, costing the school district as much as $500,000. Moreover, waiting to start the 5/6 school could drive the project into a time when construction costs would increase six percent.

Stating, “The complexity of the purchase of Fairfield Hills has become increasingly clear, and the timeline has continued to expand,” Dr Reed explained that Watertown Hall was the more sensible option. He added that the dialogue on Fairfield Hills’ master plan should have “the necessary time,” rather than being rushed to meet the needs of the school district.

The school board’s request would come as little surprise to the Legislative Council, which in recent weeks has assumed that Watertown Hall was the site the district would choose. Council Chairman Pierre Rochman has said that there has never been any doubt in his mind that the school board would exercise this option.

Before construction of the school begins, the Legislative Council would have to approve the balance of the project’s funding.