North Mianus students move to Trinity campus.
GREENWICH — For a group of Greenwich elementary students, their upcoming classroom experience will have the curious distinction of taking place in Stamford.
Students in third, fourth and fifth grade at North Mianus School will temporarily go to classes this fall 4.5 miles away — at the former Trinity Catholic High School, which closed in 2020.
North Mianus students were displaced in February when a ceiling collapse caused a pipe to burst, flooding the oldest wing of a building, which was built in the 1930s. Some classes returned to the building in March, but others were bused to different schools across the district.
This spring, school officials reported that repairs would not be completed in time for the fall semester, forcing district administrators to find an alternate site for some of the North Mianus students. Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones announced at a May school board meeting that the district had found a tentative home at the former Trinity school.
A total of $170,000 per month, or $850,000 for five months from August through December, had been budgeted to rent the property, she said.
According to the district, students in kindergarten and first and second grades will remain in the undamaged portions of the North Mianus building through the fall semester.
The other North Mianus students will share the Trinity campus at 948 Newfield Ave. — which includes two separate buildings — with the new Cardinal Kung Academy, a college preparatory junior and senior high school. The public school students will share the main Trinity building with Cardinal Kung’s recently launched early childhood school, which will open next month with about 120 students enrolled.
North Mianus Principal Angela Schmidt recently answered some questions about North Mianus’ temporary move to the former Trinity School.
Q: Who will be the on-site head administrator of the Trinity location?
A: Kathleen Smith-Ramirez will be based at the North Mianus Stamford campus. She is our new assistant principal and we will be working closely to ensure both campuses are running successfully.
Q: How will transportation work?
A: We will have buses at the Riverside campus to pick up students and take them to the Stamford campus. They will come back to North Mianus at the end of the day.
Q: How many buses will be transporting students to and from the Trinity location?
A: Eight school buses will be utilized.
Q: Is there any concern about busing into and out of a congested area?
A: The buses have been assigned different routes to the Stamford campus so they should be able to navigate the roads. Even though traffic some days can be unpredictable, I live in that area and have had no trouble getting back and forth each day in the past. Should there be any problems, we will refine the schedule as needed.
Q: Will police officers be necessary to direct buses?
A: This has not been determined yet.
Q: Will a school nurse be on site?
A: A full-time nurse has been hired for the Stamford campus.
Q: Will there be art classes?
A: Yes, there is a fully functional art room.
Q: Where will gym class take place?
A: Physical education classes will be in the gymnasium or outdoors, if weather permits. There is a large gym at the site.
Q: Where will lunch be provided in the building? Will lunch be brought over from Greenwich?
A: There are cafeterias where the students will eat. Lunch will come over from Greenwich.
Q: Will any staff have to split time between the Greenwich and Stamford locations?
A: Yes, some of our specialists will travel to both sites in order to provide PE, art and music as well as additional services needed. This is not uncommon in many of our schools.
Q: Has the school or district received any complaints from parents about the decision to be at the Trinity location temporarily?
A: Our community has been great.
Q: How is the administration feeling about the temporary move? Is there confidence this will work out well? Excitement even? Concern?
A: I am very pleased. The Stamford campus is beautiful and there is plenty of room for our Grade 3-5 students. Having K-2 students at our Riverside location together has allowed us to provide for the needs of early childhood on one campus. I will miss having all of our students together, but I look forward to the time when we will become one campus again.