Finance Board Reviews Scope Of NHS Project

By John Voket

Although two Board of Education members were in attendance December 27, they were restricted from speaking on behalf off their board when members of the Board of Finance continued questioning the scope of a proposed high school expansion project.

While newly elected school board members Kathy Fetchick and Anna Wiedemann were able to answer a few basic questions, the finance board openly displayed frustration over a lack of clarity and cooperation over what will likely be the single largest taxpayer expense in town history.

“Where the hell are they?” an exasperated Harrison Waterbury asked.

In lieu of holding a discussion with school board members, the finance board turned to data that was recently released, focusing on a position paper produced for the school district by then-Acting School Superintendent Thomas Jokubaitis. That report was designed to reinforcing the district’s contention that the planned expansion should be completed to accommodate 2,022 students. Before state reimbursements, the project is expected to cost taxpayers about $41 million.

During the most recent meeting, finance board member Joseph Kearney spoke in support of scaling back construction by approximately 30,000 square feet to accommodate a student population that two independent consultants indicate will be lower than anticipated when the high school expansion project was in its initial planning stages.

For more than a year, Mr Kearney has favored a smaller initial building project with expandable aspects to accommodate possible future space additions if they are required. In recent weeks, with the release of the latest consultants’ projections, the entire finance board has grown more anxious to fully vet the need to stay the course on a 2,022-student buildout.

Former state Department of Education population specialist Dr Peter Prowda, who is now a freelance consultant, recently projected the high school population to crest in the years 2014–2015 at 1,840 students. His numbers fluctuate from a low of 1,717 in the 2008–2009 school year, to the farthest projection point in the Year 2018, where Dr Prowda predicts a high school population of 1,773.

The second consultant, Dr Bruce Bothwell, who has been providing Newtown with population projections for several years, provides three options in his report — high, medium, and low.

His high column projects the largest high school population to peak in the 2017 school year with 2,010. His top medium projection is 1,862 in the 2014 school year, and his low ratio predicts the high school’s top population of 1,759 in the year 2011.

The new projections fueled Mr Kearney’s renewed call to reduce the project to a possible two-phase buildout.

“It would be nice to have a Plan B. I pushed for it early on,” Mr Kearney said. “There has to be some value in scaling back. If we build 30,000 square feet in the wrong direction, we’re still going to have to heat it, cool it, and maintain it.”

Finance board chairman John Kortz said once his board members were afforded the opportunity to sit with the Board of Education, he planned to push the idea of a scalable project.

“We have to be more aggressive on scalability,” Mr Kortze said. “We have to build to what we think will happen based on the latest projections.”

Finance board member Martin Gersten said the burden was now on the school district to clarify their needs based on the new projections.

Michael Portnoy then reminded the finance board that its motion to approve funding for the high school expansion was tied to the latest consultant reports.

“I believe we said in a resolution that we would review this project again once we had these population projections,” Mr Portnoy said.

Vice chair James Gaston countered, saying his review of both consultant’s past numbers showed a declining trend in accuracy, which gave him reason to lean toward building the expansion as proposed.

“Going back to 1995, Dr Prowda’s figures were 169 off, which is 11 percent. In ’96 he was 193 off, and in 1997 he was 125 off,” Mr Gaston said, reading from a binder. “In 1995 Dr Bothwell was 218 off, in ’96 he was 176 off, and in 1997 he was 108 off.”

Mr Gaston said a gradual buildout would ultimately be more costly, and adding on a phased expansion would create more interruptions for the students.

“Do it once, do it right,” Mr Gaston said. “Provide some cushion and send a message to the kids that we aren’t just doing the minimum we can. Show them we want to build to help them excel.”

Mr Kearney countered saying the town should build to the last best numbers available.

Mr Gersten wondered aloud why the town would do anything but build an expandable addition.

Mr Waterbury then said the finance board was less equipped to make the right decision, and advocate for it to local taxpayers who would ultimately vote to defeat or endorse the high school project, because the school officials had up to that point refused to sit down for a dialogue on the issue.

“I don’t think the town will spend $40 million on this project,” Mr Waterbury said.

Contacted Thursday morning before The Newtown Bee went to press, school board chair Elaine McClure said she was finishing a letter inviting the school board and Legislative Council to a January 8 workshop on the high school project.

“We want to meet with them,” Ms McClure said. “We’ll have a presentation by the architect and we hope everyone will come with any questions.”

Mr Kortze said he did not think it was the elected officials that have to be convinced.

“I think it’s the taxpayers that have to be convinced. That’s the Board of Education’s responsibility. The presentation will have to make a case for why the taxpayers are being asked to build a bigger box than the population projections call for,” Mr Kortze said.