Sam Gurwitt Photo
Chief Operating Officer Tom Ariola and Superintendent Jody Goeler.
Despite frustration over the shifting nature of school construction plans and concerns about cost, the Hamden Legislative Council voted Monday to proceed with a large construction project at Hamden Middle School by approving a contract with an architect.
The decision came almost a week after the state canceled the construction of a new West Woods School because the town was not moving fast enough, but gave its blessing to the middle school project by placing it on the 2020 priority list.
The council Monday approved a $630,000 contract with TSKP Studio 9 – 5 with one abstention. Formerly called Tai Soo Kim Partners, TSKP designed the middle school when it was originally built in 2004.
The addition to the middle school will allow the town to send all sixth graders there instead of to the town’s elementary schools.
The project is a part of the district’s “3R Initiative,” a wide-reaching district restructuring project that the Board of Education (BOE) passed in 2018. When the board passed the project, it aimed to: close the Church Street and Shepherd Glen schools, incorporate the Wintergreen School into the district, bring sixth graders to the middle school, introduce universal pre‑K to the district, make some elementary schools intra-district magnet schools, and redraw attendance zones. The board approved it as a way of bringing the district into compliance with a state racial balancing statute and addressing declining enrollment and rising costs by streamlining and improving the district.
Architect Ryszard Szczypek of TSKP.
The project involves large school construction projects, some of which predate the inception of the 3R Initiative but were rolled into it when the state said it wanted to see a comprehensive strategic plan for the district. In 2016, the council approved bonding to rebuild the West Woods School and renovate the Alice Peck and Shepherd Glen schools. The state then told the town that it wanted to see a plan for the whole district rather than just for individual schools, so the BOE created the 3R plan, which included the West Woods and Alice Peck projects (and canceled the Shepherd Glen one).
Over the course of the winter and spring of 2019, the board determined that on top of Alice Peck and West Woods, it would add a wing to the middle school and do major renovations at Ridge Hill and Dunbar Hill and minor ones at other schools. In June, the council approved bonding for the middle school, Ridge Hill, and other schools, but did not approve bonding for Dunbar Hill.
Read more about the project here and here.
Since then, the project has begun to break down into incremental parts once again. Renovations at Alice Peck are now finally underway and on track to be completed by the start of the 2020 – 2021 school year. However, the state notified the town last week that it was rescinding its grant for the West Woods project because the town missed the deadline to begin construction, and that it would not fund the Ridge Hill renovations this year. State officials said they wanted to see the town finish Alice Peck and the Middle School, and then move on to the other two. The board is now also reconsidering whether to pursue intra-district magnet schools as it had originally intended.
The termination of the West Woods reconstruction project caused significant consternation among council members who had struggled to approve the expensive bonding in the first place. Though their vote on Monday was only to approve an architect, it quickly became a forum for council members to express their frustrations about how the plan has played out.
“I’m getting nervous about the piecemeal explanations and executing things without the whole plan in place,” said Councilman Eric Annes, who eventually decided to vote in favor of the contract. When the council presented the 3R project, he and other council members said, the board and district administration said it needed to all be considered together as a part of a comprehensive plan in order to get state funding. Now, the board wants to do it in parts. The board also said that authorizing bonding was urgent back in June. What’s the urgency now, Annes asked?
Superintendent Jody Goeler replied that the town must construct an extra wing at the middle school so that the town can move sixth graders there by the fall of 2021 and open up pre‑K classrooms in elementary schools.
In June, the council approved $11.2 million for the addition to the middle school, which will include another wing for sixth graders and additions to the gym and cafeteria. For some, that cost remains a major issue.
“I’ve been against this whole project from the beginning,” said Minority Whip Betty Wetmore. “The plan is great. I just think Hamden can’t afford it.”
The cancelation of the West Woods project loomed large throughout the night’s discussion.
How much did the town pay for architectural design of the West Woods School? asked Councilman Brad Macdowall (pictured).
Interim Finance Director and BOE Secretary Myron Hul explained the process that led to the project’s cancellation, and that the town and state are still planning to do renovations at the school, just not by building a whole new school this year as planned.
“But the end result of that is taxpayers foot the bill for architectural plans that are no longer going to be used,” Macdowall replied. He said that he and the rest of the council like the plan and want to cooperate to address the issues it aims to fix, but that he is unhappy with how it has played out. He voted against the contract on Monday.
Goeler said that he will meet with the state’s Office of School Construction Grants and Review on Nov 25, and that he’s hopeful he will be able to get the West Woods renovations on track with state funding.
Some council members maintained their support for the plan, as they have done throughout the process.
“Is it safe to say that the state is eager for us to move in this project?” asked Council President Mick McGarry.
“The state is more than eager for us to move on this project, yes,” replied Goeler.
“How would they react if we were not to fund this this evening,” continued McGarry.
Myron Hul.
“They would be very disappointed and they would say get Alice Peck done and talk to us when you get your act together,” replied Goeler.
“It’s a false dichotomy to say either West Woods or the Middle School?” asked McGarry.
“It’s a false dichotomy,” replied Goeler. The town can do both at the same time, he said.
“To be completely frank, our status quo cannot be maintained,” said McGarry. “We do need to invest in our schools.”
Ryszard Szczypek of TSKP will meet with Hamden’s School Building Committee in December to plan the school’s design. Hul said the board hopes to complete the middle school project by the fall of 2021.