Alternative Ed Program To Move Across The Street From Newtown High School

By Larissa Lytwyn

The alternative education program, currently consisting of 17 high school-aged students, will move this fall to a building currently under construction across from Newtown High School.

At a special meeting on June 23, the Board of Education approved authorization to sign a one-year lease with real estate company Caldwell and Walsh.

Under the lease, the district will spend $31,810 from this fiscal year budget in rent for 2,500 square feet of the new 7,500-foot space; an additional $2,200 is estimated to cover gas and electric costs.

The $31,810 will be returned through revenue received from Education Connection, a regional education program that will be renting space this fall at Reed Intermediate School for its Project Succeed program.

The remaining 5,000 square feet of the new facility will be used for a day care center.

Historically, many alternative education students have worked part-time at day care centers and kindergarten programs across town, including Merryhill Child Care Center and Sandy Hook Elementary School.

“We thought it would be a good fit,” said Business Director Ron Bienkowski, “education with education.”

Before the lease was signed, a school board subcommittee consisting of Secretary Andy Buzzi and board member David Nanavaty, both attorneys, poured over the 55-page contract with the proverbial fine-tooth comb.

Many Changes

The alternative education program was most recently housed in a basement space of Newtown Middle School jokingly dubbed by students and officials as “the dungeon.”

The less-than-ideal locale was an emergency relocation from the program’s original location at Canaan House in Fairfield Hills, the former state-run psychiatric hospital Newtown is in the process of purchasing.

Last December, a 4,500-gallon oil spill caused the program to be moved to the opposite side of Canaan House.

But the program’s new location would not last.

An April 13 boiler fire left the program’s classrooms in ruins. The classrooms have yet to be refurbished by the state.

At press time, Mr Nanavaty and Mr Buzzi were still in the process of analyzing the contract and were unavailable for comment.