Time For Alternative Plans

To the Editor:

On Thursday of last week [January 22] I attended a special meeting called by the Board of Selectmen at town hall to discuss the status of the high school expansion and the plans of the Board of Education regarding the rebidding process. In attendance at this meeting were representatives of all the key agencies in town concerning this project, including the Board of Education, Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance, Legislative Council, Superintendent of Schools, and Public Building and Site Commission.

The Board of Education made clear to those in attendance that the process of rebidding is underway  and it would be several months before they had a better understanding of what the next step would be if the bids come in over the previously approved $38.8 million.

The Board of Selectmen intimated that they would not favor approving a new referendum for additional money if the bids exceed the originally approved amount. The question left largely unanswered by the Board of Education was whether or not they had a “Plan B” in place (or plan C, D, E etc) to cover all possible contingencies if the bids come in $2,000 or $2 million over the voter-approved amount.

I would urge the Board of Education to create the necessary alternative plans to address all the possible scenarios that could result from the rebidding process, e.g.,  the bids come in higher but less than $50,000 more; the bids come in higher, but less than $100,000 more, etc. This information should be shared with the other participating agencies in town so that everyone is on the same page and additional time is not lost in the completion of this critical project.

It was generally agreed by the members of the Board of Education that redesigning the project is not the best route to pursue because of the additional costs and time that would impact the project. Since redesign is not a viable alternative to the Board of Education and the Board of Selectmen have intimated that they would not be inclined to present a new referendum to the public for additional monies, the Board of Education should be devising alternative plans now to be put in place when the rebidding process is completed. Let us hope that no more time is wasted in providing our students the appropriate learning environment they deserve.

George Caracciolo

Schoolhouse Hill Road, Newtown                            January 27, 2009