South Windsor School Board Begins Talks on Elementary School Renovations

South Windsor school officials have started the process of pre-referendum work concerning the town’s five aging elementary school buildings.

The Board of Education held a special meeting on March 23 at the South Windsor Public Library, during which four architectural and engineering firms provided information as to the kind of work lies ahead for the school board members.

All of the firms at the meeting had extensive experience with school construction in Connecticut.

Dr. Kate Carter said that the next step would be for the school board to work on a comprehensive plan to determine what should be done to bring up to date any or all of the elementary schools.

Among the issues the school board must confront is whether to renovate some or all of the buildings “as new” - a state term of art for reimbursement purposes; whether to build an entirely new school; and, in light of declining enrollment, whether to close down one of the elementary schools.

Carter said at a recent joint meeting of the school board and the Town Council, that, while she had not reached any conclusions on the matter, she would be amenable to reducing the number of elementary schools from five to four.

But, in that scenario, it would have to be consistent with a comprehensive elementary school facilities plan that was well thought out and best meets the needs of the students, Carter said.

One major sticking point is that not all of the five elementary schools are alike. Wapping Elementary School and Eli Terry Elementary School are equipped to educate special student populations, while the other three schools aren’t, Carter said.

The goal would be to have all of the elementary schools be state-of-the-art and meet student needs where appropriate, Carter said.

There are additional concerns of which the school board was cautioned at the March 23 meeting.

For example, a representative from Friar Associates cautioned the school board to be wary of floating a potential dollar figure out to the public, as that could become a part of the narrative that, eventually, leads to problems down the line.

Voters in South Windsor have rejected two elementary school renovation spending plans at referendums in the last 10 years, the most recent of which took place in 2008.

Correction: the article originally stated that the last school referendum was in 2004. It was in 2008. South Windsor Patch regrets the error.