Rebuild Of Dwight Elementary School Needed In Fairfield: First Selectwoman

FAIRFIELD, CT — A plan to rebuild Timothy Dwight Elementary School in Fairfield is moving closer to reality, according to First Selectwoman Christine Vitale.

In a message this week to constituents, Vitale, a former Board of Education Chair, said that both the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance have approved a 20-year bonding resolution for $76,398,168 to rebuild the Redding Road-based school. The plan would also include an Early Childhood Center.

A working group of Board of Education members, town officials and school officials spent months reviewing the feasibility of building a new school, which included a lengthy study of various sites throughout town, compiled by Svigals & Partners.

"The [Representative Town Meeting] will be discussing and hopefully taking action on this project at the end of the month," Vitale wrote. "If approved by RTM, the building project will then move to the Dwight School Building Committee, which has been charged with overseeing the planning, design and construction of the school. We thank residents Laura Effron, Peggy Macaluso, Joseph Diioiro, Nicole Olson, John Pursell, Jr., and Deanna Polizzo for volunteering to serve on this committee. Their collective expertise in construction, design, finance, and real estate will be assets in moving this project forward to completion. The BOE Chair (or designee) will also serve on this committee."

Vitale hopes to reduce the project's cost to the town by seeking state grant funding, which the Fairfield's state legislative delegation will try to obtain.

"The State of Connecticut offers school construction grants to help reduce the financial burden to local municipalities," Vitale said. "Currently, the state is incentivizing adding early childhood and special education spaces to existing elementary schools. If approved by the Town, the Dwight building project will be eligible to have roughly 26% of construction costs reimbursed by the state."

Vitale added, "Since Dwight will contain early childhood classrooms, we will also be eligible to receive an additional 15% in reimbursement for the full construction of the school. An additional 15% in reimbursement will be applied to construction costs associated with adding more spaces dedicated to special education programming. This means the project could be eligible for 41% reimbursement from the state overall, and 56% reimbursement for special education spaces. This is a marked improvement in what Fairfield has historically been eligible for in terms of school construction reimbursement."

For more information on the Dwight Elementary School project, click here.