By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — With the school district on track to install new stage lighting and rigging for the Staples High School auditorium, the Board of Education has turned its attention to sound systems — and not just for the high school.

A report presented to the school board on Thursday outlined the case to create, improve or standardize auditorium sound systems at all of the town’s schools.

The separate Staples stage lighting and rigging project is expected to be voted on Feb. 5 by the Board of Finance.

“It is not a safety issue, but it is about who we are as a school system,” board member Robert Harrington said about plans to upgrade auditorium sound systems districtwide.

Sounding out the costs

Preliminary estimates are it could cost $40,000 to $60,000 per elementary school and $80,000 to $100,000 for each of the district’s two middle schools to bring sound systems up to par. An estimate of the cost at Staples is said to be several weeks away.

The report by Steve Zimmerman, the district’s coordinator of music and visual arts, details the status and needs at each school. 

Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice said he asked for the review last summer and for Zimmerman to suggest a standard that each school should try to achieve.

The idea is to ensure that each auditorium has a sound system to support assemblies, performances, parent and community gatherings, guest speaker presentations, professional development workshops and more. 

Four schools also use the auditorium regularly as music classrooms.

After consulting with several acoustics companies and looking at what other school districts have, Zimmerman said he determined the schools each need speakers, a soundboard and a set of four handheld microphones. Also recommended would be district-owned “to-go” kits with microphones.

Elementary schools

At the elementary level, the focus is on Kings Highway, Coleytown and Greens Farms.

Long Lots will get a new sound system when its building is constructed and Saugatuck has a sound system that was upgraded last year.

The aim is to duplicate the system installed at Saugatuck, Zimmerman said.

Improvements to Greens Farms, where the current sound system hums and buzzes during all performances, is in the superintendent’s proposed 2025-26 budget. The board has not yet voted to recommend that proposal.

Kings Highway’s sound system is not yet in any budget, even though it cut out during the spring musical, sound coverage in the auditorium is deemed uneven and the wireless microphones are considered a potential problem.

Middle schools

At the middle school level, a major renovation at Coleytown Middle a few years ago did not involve an auditorium upgrade. The school rents all microphones, soundboard and speaker equipment each time they are needed. The system was characterized as an abomination.

Bedford, meanwhile, has used internal theater funds to buy newer speakers and microphones.

Theater performances may seem similar between the two middle schools, but the equipment disparity leaves vastly different capabilities, Zimmerman said in his report.

Staples High School

At Staples, the report says the auditorium’s 33-year-old sound system needs an overhaul with new speakers, video monitors and an infrastructure for independent operation from the stage. Also needed are tie lines throughout the stage, auditorium and black box theater.

The existing structure, the report states, relies on a patchwork of funding from the budget, PTA, donors and Staples Players ticket sales.

It was suggested the Staples work might warrant a phase-in, depending on scope and cost, and be tacked onto the district’s evolving long-term capital project list.

The elementary and middle school work would be incorporated into the facilities allocation of the district’s operating budget, although a single wireless microphone can run $2,500 the board was told.

Keeping track of “mish mash” of equipment

Zimmerman said the district also should establish a baseline for oversight of the system and cycle for equipment replacement. There is no single staffer in charge of the school system’s seven auditoriums, the board was told.

“It seems like it’s been a mish mash,” said board Chair Lee Goldstein. She asked what the immediate request from the board is.

For the time being, just getting to the bottom of the problems at Greens Farms is the priority, she was told.

Scarice said the district’s capital plan could also be refreshed in August for the next fiscal year.

Harrington called it mind blowing that the district is living with decades-old sound systems.

“The quality of performances far outstrips the equipment,” Goldstein said. “I would love to redo” the Staples sound system.

She also asked if there are funds in the proposed 2025-26 budget to do the Coleytown Middle sound system. She was told no.

When the board established its capital priorities, safety came first. The district has worked to focus on building envelop issues, including window and HVAC concerns.

Facilities Committee to take up review

The school board’s Facilities Committee will meet Jan. 29 to discuss the Kings Highway, Greens Farms and Coleytown Middle sound systems.

District Finance Director Elio Longo said his priority would be to identify funds to close the gap at Kings Highway between what the PTA has raised and what is needed at that school.

During public comment, Marisa Timperman, from the Coleytown Middle School PTA, urged the board to prioritize her school’s sound system, which she called grossly inadequate for a Westport middle school.

With no soundboard and no wireless microphones, Timperman described propping up cell phones against laptops to produce sound.

“It’s like using landlines,” Timperman said, adding “To adjust volume you need to get on a ladder backstage.” 

The PTA is always there to support the schools, Timperman said. “This is beyond the scope and means of the PTA. The Board of Ed should take on the lion’s share of this.”

Freelance writer Linda Conner Lambeck, a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications, is a member of the Education Writers Association.