Date: Fri 19-Mar-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Reed-5/6-school

Full Text:

Reed Sees Split Sessions If 5/6 School Isn't Built

BY ANN MARIE COHEN

In his campaign to inform townspeople why Newtown needs a new school for fifth

and sixth graders, Superintendent of Schools John Reed wants to make sure

everyone knows what will happen if the school is not built.

Without the new school, Dr Reed foresees split sessions for grades six, seven

and eight. School would be in session from 7:35 am to 12:35 pm for grades

seven and eight. Grade six would attend school from 11:30 am to 4:30 pm.

However, split sessions would not fill the state mandated requirement of 900

hours of instruction, Dr Reed is quick to point out. In order to meet this

requirement, the school year would have to be extended to 210 days or an

approximate addition of 27 days.

Split sessions could jeopardize existing after-school extracurricular

activities.

Costs to meet this proposal would include additional teachers' salaries and

operating expenses. This would roughly total $700,000. Transportation expenses

would add an additional $520,000.

To provide the needed additional space for students, portable classrooms would

have to be utilized. The cost of buying these classrooms is estimated at

$105,000 per classroom. This figure does not include any work done on the

site.

Projected rising enrollments are based on both state enrollment figures and

figures from the results of a study conducted by Dr Bothwell of Focus

Consulting Associates of Carmel, NY.

"New, higher birth data from the State Department of Health has convinced us

that elementary enrollments will not level off soon but will continue to grow

for the next several years before leveling off at a point higher than expected

earlier," Dr Bothwell stated.

To alleviate overcrowded conditions, a 5/6 school would create the space

needed by moving grades five and six out of their respective schools.

The site under consideration is located on a 19-acre piece of land located at

Watertown Hall in Fairfield Hills, which was given to the town when the former

state psychiatric hospital closed in 1995.

Rusty Malik, architect, of Kaestle Boos Associates of New Britain, recommended

the Watertown Hall building be demolished. The building has too many

structural problems. Hazardous waste removal could be extensive, he added. The

study indicated that it would not be cost effective to use Watertown Hall in

any way.

The anticipated cost of building a new 5/6 school at this site is $25.8

million.

Dr Reed concluded that if the 5/6 school is not built, "the quality of

instruction will be different; the school year will be extended significantly

with significant costs."