Summer Work Currently Preparing Schools For Fall

By Eliza Hallabeck

Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson said it is thanks to work accomplished over the summer, while students are out of school, that the schools shine when students enter school again in the fall.

“I like to visit each of the schools the week before school starts,” said Dr Robinson Wednesday, August 4. Director of Facilities Gino Faiella takes her on tours of each of the buildings before the start of the school year, she said. The floors shine and new paint has been used where needed.

Even Hawley, she said, the oldest building in the Newtown Public School system, is gleaming when the school year is about it begin.

For the start of the 2010-2011 school year, something else will be ready at Hawley thanks to work being done this summer. The former gymnasium in the basement of Hawley will be a new cafeteria for students at the school. The walls are painted a fresh light orange, and the room no longer resembles the old gym.

Mr Faiella said the cafeteria is “moving right along.” Plumbing and electrical work have been completed, and the final equipment for the cafeteria is expected to arrive sometime next week, he said.

The roof at Hawley is also being worked on over the summer. Driving past it on Church Hill Road, residents can see the finished portion of the front roof, while Mastri Builders & Home Construction workers now work on the back portion of the 1921 original Hawley building.

Mr Faiella said he is expecting the roof to be completed or nearly finished by the start of the school year.

The boiler needed replacing after it was decommissioned in March from a leak, leaving only one boiler in that section of Hawley.

“It’s a happy day when I can rest easy,” said Mr Faiella, explaining that the new boiler adds redundancy to the system at Hawley. In the event one of the two boilers there now goes down, the other will maintain the school.

Dr Robinson said Hawley is the focus of most of the building work being conducted over the summer, with the exception of the Newtown High School expansion and renovation project. Mr Faiella also said major work was not completed at other schools in the district, but light bulbs were replaced, repairs completed, and regular summer maintenance was done.

Newtown High School Principal Charles Dumais announced this week that the expansion will not be ready in time for students to enter it on September 1. Dr Robinson also said the it is uncertain whether the overall timeframe on the project will be completed as expected.

An August 11 update to Mr Dumais’ blog, http://dumais.us/newtown/blog, said, “Based upon an evaluation (by the town, the district, the architect, and the contractor) of the current construction progress, it has been decided that it is highly likely that the classroom addition will not be ready for occupancy on September 1. Hence, we will begin to implement an alternative plan for the opening of school which will have us start in our current spaces (slightly rearranged) and then move into the addition once it is complete.”

The tennis courts are complete, she said, and she is expecting to invite members of the public to the school once it is complete.

“We’ll have a big celebration,” Dr Robinson said.