Let’s Move Forward With A 5/6 School

To The Editor,

In Herb Rosenthal’s open letter in the November 26 issue of The Newtown Bee, the First Selectman states that there will be additional playing fields at the new 5/6 school whether at Cochran House or on the 22 acres the town currently owns. “If Cochran House is the site [for the proposed school], then most of the 22 acres at the Watertown Hall/garage site could be developed for fields.”

This statement sounds like Mr Rosenthal is assuming that the town won’t move forward with a 5/6 school until the fate of Fairfield Hills is determined. I emphatically disagree with that assumption.

The Newtown Middle School and some of the elementary schools are overcrowded today. Sandy Hook Elementary is bursting at the seams. Hawley School already has the enrollment today that it was projecting for next year.

Earlier this year the decision to build the 5/6 school at Watertown Hall was suspended while the town evaluated the various proposals that have been submitted to the state as well as the possible purchase of Fairfield Hills. Although one of the proposals included a possible conversion of a Fairfield Hills building  – Cochran House – for a 5/6 school, any decision on Fairfield Hills as a whole does not appear to be imminent. In the meantime, our school population continues to increase.

In the last three years, enrollment in our first grades has increased 15.8 percent. Third grade enrollment increased 12.7 percent and in the 5th grade the increase is 29.3 percent. To accommodate this growth, the Newtown Board of Education is considering renting temporary space to house classes, and there is a possibility of using portable classrooms as a stopgap measure.

The cost of these temporary measures, coupled with the additional costs of constructing the 5/6 school (due to the Fairfield Hills delay) are reason enough to move forward now. The Board of Education estimates that the delay has already increased the cost of building the school from $120 per square foot to $135 per square foot. The size of the school enrollment has also increased from the first estimates of 1,000 students to 1,100 students. And as we all know, interest rates have also increased.

It would be regrettable to delay the decision to begin construction on the 5/6 school at the Watertown Hall site, which the town already owns. This site, and its development, are not impacted by the indecision surrounding the Fairfield Hills property. Overcrowding and the delay to act decisively will cost us mightily in the quality of our children’s education and in real dollars. In the long run, inaction would be detrimental to the taxpayers of Newtown. The seriousness of the situation warrants the attention of all the citizens of Newtown.

I encourage the Newtown voters to voice your concerns when the Board of Education submits its request for approval of funds. Bringing about positive action requires your voice. Speak out. Let’s not wait. Let’s move forward to build the school and relieve the overcrowding before the solution costs us anymore.

Sincerely,

Deborah Hoffmann

60 Elm Drive, Newtown                 December 7, 1999