Panel Concludes ‘Second Opinion’ Needed To Refine Planning For High School Space Needs

By John Voket

Pending the approval and delivery of a “second opinion” study on options for future high school expansion, Board of Education and school leaders expect they will be well prepared to make some firm decisions on how to proceed with structure and curriculum. To that end, members of the High School Space Needs Study Committee heard two presentations during their meeting last Monday.

One presentation from Joseph Costa, a representative from Shelton-based Fletcher Thompson, outlined the entire existing inventory of space at the high school. According to member Richard Sturdevant, the presentation helped convince space committee members to unanimously recommend Superintendent Evan Pitkoff seek funding for a full-scale study of options for expansion at the existing high school site from the company.

While several other studies have been provided in the past, Mr Sturdevant said any additional funds allocated to Fletcher Thompson would be money well spent, and would provide a “second opinion” to another recent study by a school board consultant.

“Fletcher Thompson would use this existing space inventory as a starting point for a full study,” he said, acknowledging the recent Walker study. “This will serve as a second look at the situation and will be good for us to have as a means of comparison.”

Mr Sturdevant said he appreciates the fact that a significant amount of money has already been expended on high school space studies on building options. But he said most of the space needs committee felt the extensive regional experience in school design and construction that Fletcher Thompson brings to the table would provide a invaluable resource in crafting solid decisions about whether an expansion will serve the community better than a new facility.

“Is it possible to build another high school? Yes it is,” he said. “But is it the best solution? This is not a decision we want to make lightly. It will be one of the tougher decisions we’ve had to make.”

During a review of Fletcher Thompson’s preliminary space inventory Wednesday, Assistant Superintendent Alice Jackson told The Bee results show the current building is being utilized as efficiently as possible.

“This report shows that a very high percentage of space at the high school is being used for classrooms,” she said. “But we know that the halls and stairways are too narrow and there is not a lot of storage space.”

Current state Department of Education standards say that with a population of 1,500 students there should be 174.5 gross square feet per student. Fletcher Thompson’s space inventory shows the gross square footage at the high school stands at 279,777.

If no further expansion occurs, and the student population grows to 1,800 students, the report shows Newtown’s current facility would be more than 34,000 gross square feet below that standard. If the population grows to 2,000 students, the deficiency would increase to 69,223 gross square feet.

Despite the fact that school administrators are under a current budget freeze that includes not funding studies and surveys, the space needs committee is pushing for the Fletcher Thompson group’s participation.

“Fletcher Thompson will take a different look at our situation. This will be money spent wisely,” Mr Sturdevant said.

Assistant Superintendent Reports

Following the architect’s presentation, Ms Jackson then presented a preliminary report produced by the Coping With Growing Enrollment committee. According to the assistant superintendent, a Coping with Growing Enrollment Committee was formed last January to discuss program recommendations for the expanding student population at the high school.

“The district presented a similar but smaller scale report in May of 2004,” she said. “But in January, we reopened the question of growing enrollment to an even larger focus group.”

She said a combination of parents, teachers, administrators, and community members read recent research about high school programs, shared issues and concerns, and discussed the pros and cons of a wide range of options. As a follow-up to the work with this committee, focus group discussions with students and with teachers were held to answer specific questions, bringing a variety of perspectives to the programmatic issues.

“We spent three or four entire afternoons working to identify every possible option, and ruling out options,” she said. “We believe we’ve assessed the pros and cons of each variable. There was some incredible input and thinking provided by the participants.”

Ms Jackson pointed to a large cardboard box in her office containing four binders full of collateral materials for restructuring high schools. She said the group also reviewed CD roms, videos, and other data to come up with their report.

“The consensus was that we need to restructure the senior year to help students make a better transition to college or careers…we need to help energize them,” she said.

That goal would be met by offering a combination of real world internship opportunities and even some limited local college campus exposure.

“Maybe they would take a class at a local college to begin to get a feel for the atmosphere. Or we could provide them with hands-on training at local businesses so they could experience real world situations,” she said. “Instead of a science book, we would have the students actually go out and participate in scientific applications with professionals in the field.”

This practice would better prepare NHS seniors for future careers, help them build their resume, and help give students who tend to be abstract thinkers a better idea of the expectations they would face once a transition to college is made.

The committee is also recommending the high school consider launching health-related career training.

“We’d like to see students get, or qualify to become, certified as EMTs, CNAs or even LPNs,” she said. “We’d like to see participating students come out of the high school ready to take the tests for state certification in these or other health fields.”

These students would provide a ready resource here in the community, Ms Jackson explained.

“They could become ambulance volunteers, help in one of the local senior care facilities, even at the local health clinic,” she said. “We are committed to creating programs that would be good for the students while they are providing services here in town.”

Mr Sturdevant said Ms Jackson’s findings dovetailed nicely with the Fletcher Thompson presentation.

“They both really educated us,” he said.

Ms Jackson supported the hiring of Fletcher Thompson for a new space study.

“We want to be absolutely certain of what we can or can’t do with the existing property. And if this report completely rules out expansion on the existing site, Kent House is where it’s at,” she said, referring to an area on the Fairfield Hills campus sanctioned for possible school district use.

She said the committee ruled out having a second high school in town, even if the study rules out expansion on the current school site.

“We don’t believe the town is ready for a second high school,” she said. “We are looking at an option of building a smaller facility that can accommodate some of the programs, and is designed to have additional space added on as needed. We want all the students to have an identity to the core building.”

She said one significant advantage to a Kent House project would be the state’s underwriting of about one-third the project cost including demolition and remediation of the existing building.

“Financially, this may be the wisest move for the town,” Ms Jackson concluded.