School Bd Decides It Doesn’t Like

Vinyl Siding For Proposed 5/6 School

By Tanjua Damon

The Newtown Board of Education will ask architects to assess the cost of changing the exterior of the proposed 5/6 school off Mile Hill Road and Wasserman Way.

The school board wants to price split face brick and brick. They unanimously decided Tuesday afternoon in a special meeting that vinyl siding did not fit with the overall appearance they wanted for the school.

Members of the school board have been visiting schools in other Connecticut towns —Columbia, Darien, and Southbury to view exterior finishes. Initially, architects had recommended a combination of vinyl siding and brick, but school board members, after viewing examples of that combination decided that would not fit with the proposed new school.

Superintendent of Schools John R. Reed along with board members Margaret Hull and Sheila Stickles took a trip last week to a school in Columbia, CT that used vinyl siding and brick exterior finish.

“At that point I realized we could use vinyl siding with brick,” Ms Hull said. “But we weren’t overwhelmed with the way it looked. At this point we were comparing our options. Before we build this expensive school that will be here for a very long time, we wanted to see what it would look like.”

After viewing videotape of various schools with different combinations of materials, the board voted unanimously to not go with vinyl siding and to go back to the architect and ask for figures for the cost of brick and split face brick combinations.

“It wasn’t appealing esthetically,” Ms Stickles said. “I would want some measure of comfort of its appearance.”

Dr Reed noted that with the Fairfield Hills negotiations, it is difficult to know what the area will look like in the future.

“Because we don’t know what Fairfield Hills holds, to have that building have a marked affinity with Fairfield Hills would be a mistake,” he said. “We want to be nice neighbors. We don’t want to clash. But I don’t think we want to look exactly the same. My advice is if you are at all uncomfortable with it. I don’t know it there is a reason to proceed with it.”

Board member Lisa Schwartz agreed with the other board members that the vinyl siding did not have the appearance she wanted for the new school.

“I personally don’t like the vinyl,” she said. “It would look so much grander to have substantial material.”

The cost of the 5/6 school is estimated around $34 million. The cost of using vinyl would be less than brick or split face brick.

“My personal opinion is brick is still out,” Vince Saviano said. “We could look at split face, using two offsetting textures, colors and size to attempt to assimilate the brick look and see what that looks like.”

The plans for the 5/6 school are tentatively scheduled to be sent to the State Board of Education for their approval in mid-December. The board will have to ask the architects whether the change in exteriors will affect the cost or schedule of the project.

“This is a pretty conservative venture we are taking,” Dr Reed said. “Maybe it isn’t the time to be a trend setter or risk taker with this.”