By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT – The opening date for a new Long Lots School has been moved back a full semester.

Instead of opening in the fall of 2027, it is now anticipated that the school will not be completed until December 15, 2027, building committee officials told the school board last week.

“Everyone moves in at the start of the January semester in 2028,” said Long Lots Building Committee Chairman Jay Keenan during an update of the project.

With committee member Don O’Day and project architects at his side, Keenan said the new timeline means students would leave the old building during the winter break and return to the new school when school resumes in January 2028.

For the most part, the plan is to not keep anything from the existing school. Everything in the new school will be new, except for teacher belongings which will be boxed,  labeled and moved to the new space during break.

“There will be a plan for that,” Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice told the board.

A plan for what happens to furniture and equipment left behind is being explored now, Keenan said.

Keenan said the school community has been made aware of the time change.

After a year spent designing and prepping the site for the new $110 million school, Keenan said fences are starting to go up separating the existing school from the new school construction area.

Digging for the foundation comes next.

Once students move into the new school 20 months from now, the existing school will be torn down and new parking lots and playing fields constructed.

That will be the tricky part, Keenan said, with parking areas and traffic patterns for parent drop off changing frequently.

By August 2028, the project should be done.

What will it look like

The school board was given a sneak peak of what the new school will look like, both with architectural renderings and samples of finishes.

The new school is to be sustainable, as close to net zero as possible, meaning it uses almost as much energy as it creates, according to Marissa Mead, a principal architect at FCA. The energy usage intensity at the current school is 102. At the new school, the projection is that it will be 20, better than most newly-built schools today, Mead said.

The number could go down further when solar panels are added to the new school a year after it opens.

Although the new school should qualify for sustainability certification standards, Mead said the plan is not to seek the designation because of the cost involved.

The exterior façade of the new school has been designed to blend in with the neighborhood.

There will be three playground areas, including an existing playground dedicated in 2013 to Dylan Hockley, one of the first-graders killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. In addition, there will be a second Long Lots playground and a third for Stepping Stones Preschool which will be located in a wing of the new school. The play area will also have a “tricycle track.”

The courtyard will have a Gazebo and seating area.

Inside there will be custom wall installations and a gallery wall for some of the town’s artwork collection.

There will be a multipurpose room separate from the gymnasium.

Board Member Abby Tolan asked if there could be a discussion of installing dishwashers in the cafeteria so that the school could switch from disposable to reusable trays and foodware, similar to what Wilton schools recently did.

She was told the new school has the space and hookups for dishwashers, but they are not currently part of the project budget.

If the board decides to go that route it would be added to the Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment costs.

Meanwhile, O’Day told the board that the town received a space waiver from the state for both the 2019 Coleytown Middle School renovation project and the Long Lots project which will result in a higher reimbursement rate and lower the overall cost of the projects to the town.