BOE approves CMS square footage
New Central Middle School would fit 660 students — with flexibility if enrollment grows
GREENWICH — The Central Middle School building committee finally has a roadmap to designing Greenwich Public Schools’ newest building.
The Board of Education held numerous special meetings over the spring and summer to determine what size building would have longevity in central Greenwich, and Thursday evening, the board approved a 115,311-square-foot plan.
Board members Karen Kowalski and MichaelJoseph Mercanti-Anthony were not in attendance Thursday; both voted against a 117,410-square-foot plan at the last meeting, July 27.
Even had they both dissented Thursday, the educational specifications still would have passed. Previous nay voters Joe Kelly and Cody Kittle changed their minds, with Kittle in favor of the slightly reduced square footage and Kelly abstaining.
“I would have preferred that the meeting waited until after the vacations, but I do understand the urgency of trying to get the ed specs to the building committee,” Mercanti-Anthony said Friday. “I mean, the reality is the vast majority of the ed specs make a terrific design for a middle school.”
The educational specifications, which determine the goals for the building committee and architect, plan for an enrollment of 660 students with room to be flexible should a larger wave of students attend.
Consultants built in flexibility by adding square footage in critical gathering spaces. For example, if 700 students enroll, a larger cafeteria would be essential for scheduling purposes, Principal Tom Healy told the board.
The district’s consultants at Construction Solutions Group also added extra space in the media center
and hallways, which MercantiAnthony didn’t support.
“In the grand in the grand scheme of things, though, holding off on moving the project forward because of the debate over 500 square feet in the library is not in the best interest of the community,” he said.
“The media center was designed from the very beginning that the media center has to be the hub of the building. So, to have students moving in and out, teachers collaborating, students coming in, we just needed extra square footage there,” Healy said during the meeting Thursday.
Kelly did not have objections to the scale of the project, but he said his concerns remained about the amount of board oversight during the design process.
“The building committee could very well bring us a beautiful design and a beautiful building, but they also might not come to something we agree with and that’s the reason why I’m warning,” he said.
The Central Middle School building committee is currently editing a request for proposals for an architect and owner’s representative.
Board member Karen Hirsh was concerned that the board does not know what soil on the property is safe to build on.
Board member Christina Downey said they could add detail to the educational specifications once they receive the results of the soil testing. The testing was delayed a few days this week after the soil team contracted COVID-19.
The board should receive the results of the soil testing in “a few weeks,” Superintendent Toni Jones said.