New high school, learning academy plans move forward
NEW FAIRFIELD — The town is one step closer to building a new high school and an early learning academy for students at Consolidated School.
The school board voted unanimously Wednesday night to ask the selectmen if the district could seek state funding for both projects, which would cost $109.4 million without the grant.
“This is good news for us,” Superintendent Pat Cosentino said.
The plan is to build a $79.3 million high school on the site of the existing campus and construct a $30.1 million addition onto Meeting House Hill School.
Pre-kindergarten through first grade would move out of Consolidated and into the addition, while second-graders would go into an existing wing at Meeting House.
The state grant would bring the cost to the town down to $59.5 million for the high school and $23.4 million for the addition.
The vote comes about a week after the New England Association of Schools and Colleges placed the high school on warning for its accreditation, citing the poor facilities.
If the district does not address the problems, then the school could be put on probation or lose its accreditation, said Rich Sanzo, director of business and operations.
“That would prevent our students from accessing post-secondary opportunities and have a dramatic impact on real estate values here in the community,” Sanzo told board members at a recent meeting.
The application for the grant is due June 30, but the town will decide in the fall whether it will pursue the projects.
“This does not bind the New Fairfield community or taxpayers to anything,” Cosentino said.
She expects a referendum would be held in October. The state must know by Nov. 15 whether the town approved the plans. The town would then learn the following spring if it received the grant.
Conditions in the schools are so poor that renovating would cost about the same as constructing new buildings, Cosentino said. The state will also not provide grant money if the district renovates.
Both buildings are plagued by water leaks, poor energy efficiency and a lack of handicap accessibility, among other problems.
The average taxpayer would pay $210 more in taxes in 2022 and again in 2024 because of the projects, preliminary estimates show. Tax increases during the other years would not be as large.
This could hurt seniors living on fixed incomes, resident Joseph Galanti said at the meeting.
“I don’t think the seniors in this town—people who have put their kids through (the schools and) have had to put up with whatever is in the buildings—should be asked to pay that kind of money,” he said.
But the projects will be an investment that improves the entire town, said Dominic Cipollone, a board member.
“It’s for the benefit of everyone who lives in this town to have schools we can all be proud of both physically and academically,” he said at Wednesday’s meeting.
Completing both projects at once will save the town money on architectural, construction and other costs, Cosentino said.
“We’re really trying very hard to be fiscally responsible and efficient with taxpayer money,” she said. “But from all the financial people who have looked at the projects and looked at the buildings, it just makes more sense to do them at the same time.”
The district has held two tours in the past week of the schools and plans to hold more, Cosentino said.
One mother with a child in first grade at Consolidated said the tour solidified the need for new schools.
“I came away from the tour on Saturday horrified,” she said at Wednesday’s meeting. “I had no idea that the building had so many fundamental issues that needed to be addressed.”