In Fairfield Hills—

Nanavaty Proposes A Magnet School At Kent House

By Eliza Hallabeck

As the newly seated president of Education Connection, a regional education service for western Connecticut, Board of Education member David Nanavaty proposed creating a magnet school for the arts at Kent House on the Fairfield Hills campus at the school board’s meeting Tuesday, September 14.

While he will only be in the leadership position with Education Connection for one year, Mr Nanavaty said he would like to start looking into the possibility of a magnet school now.

The Education Connection provides programs and services to 30 member school districts and communities. After being named president, Mr Nanavaty said he approached Education Connection Executive Director Danuta Thibodeau with the idea of approaching the state with the concept of starting a magnet program, “and see whether there is funding for that.”

“We have Kent House that has been offered to our school system, offered to the Board of Ed, and it is just sitting there,” said Mr Nanavaty.

He shared his idea for a school of performing arts, including music, theater, and technology, with Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson, and told the school board the venture would be through Education Connection.

“My concern is as we face more severe budget issues,” he said, “…if we actually are facing areas where we are going to be looking at seriously having to cut our budget, and seriously looking at the creative arts in order to meet the budget, I would hate to lose that for the students of Newtown.”

Last year, during the board’s meeting on June 16, acting as a liaison for the Fairfield Hills Authority, Amy Dent told the school board Kent House was a nice building when the state still had employees overseeing maintenance, but, like other buildings on the campus, it has not been kept up since the state left.

Kent House was originally considered for possible school use in 2002, when ideas for dealing with school enrollment at the high school were being explored. In 2002, however, school officials concluded that Kent House (or any other building at Fairfield Hills) was not suitable for a school. Instead, at that time, they requested a 25-acre site to build a new 93,000-square-foot academy to house 500 students to help alleviate the ballooning student enrollment at the high school.

At the time, the buildings were not evaluated as a possible site for a magnet school, which could have different requirements than a regular school, depending on the courses offered.

“This is just an idea I had,” said Mr Nanavaty. “This is something that is at the cusp of just beginning, but this is property that has been made available to this Board of Education. So I do need this board’s permission, if you will, to proceed as president of Education Connection to move this forward.”

The magnet school would draw students from Education Connection’s region, and would most likely, according to Dr Robinson, be opened between the hours of 1 and 5 pm to accommodate students taking traditional high school courses. Mr Nanavaty said one of the elements that drew his attention to Kent House, is its proximity to I-84.

Board of Education Chairman William Hart said the it sounded like a wonderful idea.

“To me it seems like a wonderful use for the property,” said Mr Hart.

Mr Hart also said Mr Nanavaty could approach the Fairfield Hills Authority early in the process for discussion.

“Potentially this is a big win-win for everyone,” said Mr Hart.

School board member Richard Gaines said while the magnet school construction is in progress, classes could be held at Edmond Town Hall to start the process of gaining student enrollment, adding it was an out of the box idea.

While board Secretary Debbie Leidlein said she liked the idea, she also wanted to make she the Board of Ed vetted all possibilities for the property that may be given up, if Kent House is offered to Education Connection for a possible magnet school.