Superintendent Tells School Board—

NHS Expansion Too Costly For Immediate Consideration

By Larissa Lytwyn

Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff discussed the progress of the High School Space Needs Study Committee (HSSN) with Board of Education members at the board’s last meeting, November 3, indicating that immediate action on a Newtown High School expansion was unlikely.

“I asked [First Selectman] Herb Rosenthal if it was possible to use a part of Fairfield Hills [for a new high school campus] and he told me, ‘no,’” Dr Pitkoff said. “He said this was because the possible uses for Fairfield Hills had already been laid out in the master plan, and these uses did not include [the high school].”

Additionally, Dr Pitkoff said, two years ago, when the Fairfield Hills property was still state-owned, he had asked the state for an estimate on how much it would cost to establish a building that could accommodate approximately 500 students.

The cost, he was told, was approximately $26 million, which, today, would translate into about $28 million.

Six months ago, a Board of Finance member had told Dr Pitkoff that the finance board would be willing to allocate about $10 million, including state reimbursement, for a high school expansion project.

Dr Pitkoff said it was indicated to him, over the phone, that the $10 million would be the limit.

Board member Tom Gissen, also a member of the HSSN committee, said that the panel had been working to be “realistic” and was working to “understand” the various positions of the many interested parties for this issue.

“There are a lot of considerations to think about,” he said.

Dr Pitkoff echoed this sentiment. “We aren’t ruling out any possibilities,” he said.

One consideration, for example, was to build an addition on the existing high school. But, Dr Pitkoff, noted that whatever potential that approach offered would be offset by other sacrifices.

“For example, we could build something on the football field, but then we wouldn’t have a field anymore,” he said.

Mr Gissen added that an expansion on the high school’s existing space could lead to a greater sense of anonymity, as well as physical cramping.

“The halls right now, during passing time, are sometimes hard to [get through],” he said. “The committee is aware of all this, and we are considering all [the options].”

The HSSN committee will hold its next meeting on Monday, November 8, to discuss the high school expansion’s possible cost implications, as well as the current, seeming impossibility of using Fairfield Hills property.

The meeting will be at 7:30 pm in the lecture hall of Newtown High School, and the public is welcome to attend.