Wallingford BOE votes to consolidate Sheehan, Lyman Hall high schools into one building

WALLINGFORD — The Board of Education took a major step toward consolidating the town’s two high schools this week, voting by an 8-1 margin to combine Mark T. Sheehan High School and Lyman Hall High School into one school on the current Pond Hill Road site of Lyman Hill, Superintendent of School.

The new high school would be nearly 300,000 square feet, according to information presented to the school board in a virtual meeting Monday night.

It would cost $216.06 million, with the town’s share of that being $122.68 million. The state would reimburse the town for its share at a rate of about 43 percent, board Board of Education Chair Tammy Raccio said Tuesday.

The Town Council still must approve before the town can put the design out for bid and apply for state funding, said Raccio and Superintendent of Schools Danielle Bellizzi.

Vice Chairman Ray Ross was the only member who voted against the consolidation. The vote came after more than five years of discussion.

“He was in favor of keeping two smaller schools,” said Raccio.

The problem with that for many on the board was that “basically, if we renovated both schools, the Sheehan High School ... utilization would only be 59 percent” — and state reimbursement would drop because of it, Raccio said.

According to a study done for the board, Sheehan’s highest enrollment over the next eight years would be just 738, Raccio said.

“If they renovated to new, they’re renovating to much higher than our projections need,” she said. “If we renovated both schools to new, it would have cost the taxpayers an additional $20 million ... That’s a financial piece that really got most of the board members’ attention.”

Under the plan to consolidate the two schools, class-size “will still be the same” at about 25 per class, Raccio said.

Right now, with certain programs running at just one school or the other, “there’s not equity in opportunity,” she said.

“Last night ... at their monthly meeting, the Board of Education voted to move forward with the process of building one consolidated high school for the students of the Wallingford Public Schools,” said Bellizzi in an email. “... We are excited to look ahead to the future of this flagship school for our learning community,” Bellizzi wrote.

“The Wallingford Board of Education commissioned a second study to include the elementary, middle, and high schools to review student enrollment, make recommendations on the best use of space to achieve educational objectives and ensure equitable class sizes and access to programming,” Bellizzi said.

“Consultants’ provided an in-depth view of projected enrollment for the next 10 years, programming, and facilities information to better understand the issues facing the district,” she wrote. “After reviewing and discussing the finding from the study, the Wallingford Board of Education decided to narrow the focus to the high schools to start.

“The options were to either renovate both high schools as new or consolidate them into one high school,” she said. “This lengthy process culminated in last night’s vote to bring the recommendation to the Town Council for their consideration and in order to issue a request for proposals for architectural specifications needed to apply for state funding.”

The process “included input from the community, an extensive study from the architectural firm of Silver, Petrucelli + Associates as well as a significant educational cost/benefit analysis,” Bellizzi said. “The recommendation will be shared with the Town Council with the intended outcome being the Town Council would support the Board of Education moving forward with a second level (deeper dive) study.”

If approved by the Town Council, “the next steps in the process will include reviewing the second-tier study and determining the feasibility to move forward with one consolidated high school,” she said. “If the decision is to continue with one consolidated high school, then a grant application would need to be submitted to the Office of School Construction Grants and Review for approval.”