Politics & Government
K-12 Building Committee Plans Meetings With Teachers
The newly reconstituted panel also working on getting updated enrollment projections and space needs to start addressing aging elementary schools.
The K-12 School Building Committee laid the groundwork Tuesday night for the town's latest attempt to address its aging elementary schools.
The committee, in a meeting at the Stonington Public Schools Central Office Building in Mystic, discussed a wide range of issues and decided to seek input from Superintendent of Schools Van Riley and the teachers themselves as a first step before requesting $50,000 that was approved by the Board of Selectmen last month for preliminary architectural plans.
"We're not ready today to say 'We need that money'," Committee Chairman Rob Marseglia said. "I think we've still got work to do. We'll be persistent and patient, and we'll get our work going."
Among the action items the committee is seeking more information on before it starts its work in earnest:
- Front-entrance and other security needs
- Classroom and space needs
- Current and future enrollment projections
- Office-space needs
- Storage needs
- Technology needs, including storage requirements
- More information on health center needs
"I think they'll jump all over it to attend this meeting. They want change," said committee member Julie Holland. "I want them to have a voice."
Second, the committee will seek to tour recently-built schools in Groton and Waterford. The group also plans to seek input from parents and residents.
"The more knowledge you have, the more you can defend it, and also reason with everyone that this is the way you should go," committee member and Selectman George Crouse said.
Past plans to upgrade the schools have been scuttled because of budget concerns, but have included closing West Broad Street School and consolidating Pawcatuck's elementary schools into a renovated and expanded West Vine Street School and improvements to Deans Mill School. West Broad is not handicapped-accessible and maintenance costs for the 113-year-old building are escalating, but the plan to close it was met with much resistance.
The committee set its next meeting for Tuesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. at the Central Office Building.
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