By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — Kings Highway Elementary School is a rung below Long Lots and Coleytown schools in terms of need as ranked by the school district’s five-year capital improvement plan.

A recent study shows the school is in overall good condition, structurally and mechanically.

That has not stopped some Board of Education members from suggesting the century-old structure needs more immediate attention.

“I think there is an opportunity to do more as a board,” said board member Robert Harrington at the board’s meeting this week.

Based on a recent capacity study that pointed out Kings Highway’s undersized classrooms and American Disabilities Act non-compliance, Harrington asked that the administration determine what can be done to make better use of its space.

While the school is a great community and has great teachers, Harrington said he is underwhelmed by the building’s challenging layout.

Harrington said he is not asking for a structural expansion of Kings Highway given the town and school district’s robust list of pressing priorities, but simply for the administration to look at the status quo and come back with suggestions.

Board member Dorie Hordon agreed there are areas of the school that could use improvement. The lack of accessibility in some areas of the school bothered her, she said. She’s in favor of looking for guidance on how to make the space better.

“It sounds like it needs a California closet solution,” Hordon said. 

It is “chaotic” not to stick with capital plans?

Board Chairwoman Lee Goldstein said Kings Highway may have its challenges, but she opposes veering from the district’s capital improvement plan.

That plan ranked schools based on a review of mechanical, electrical and building envelope needs

After Long Lots, which will either be rebuilt or replaced under current plans, attention is being turned to Coleytown. Then come Kings Highway and Saugatuck.

“We spent a long time developing it, prioritizing,” Goldstein said. “I don’t think it is appropriate to respond idiosyncratically to one school over another at this point in time.”

Plus, Goldstein said she didn’t know what the board would be asking the administration to do except “make it better.”

“I don’t know that that is specific enough a request,” she said.

She called it a little chaotic.

“I apologize if I am chaotic in my approach,” responded Harrington. “I find that offensive. I find that disrespectful.”

The capacity report suggested at some point Kings Highway, with 29 classrooms, get either an addition or have enrollment lowered through redistricting.

Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice said 21 of the schools’ classrooms are below 700 square feet in size.

Because of a lack of storage space, classrooms have added book shelves that eat into usable room space.

Still, Scarice said at a recent PTA meeting he attended, not one parent raised concerns about the building.

“We have a lot right now that we are doing and I think we have to prioritize,” Scarice said.

Kings Highway Principal Tracey Carbone, who has spent much of her career in the building, told the board that staff is creative with the space they have. Classes are sometime reshuffled based on their size.

There are two wings of the building including a fifth-grade hallway that people using wheelchairs can’t get to, according to Carbone.

“It hasn’t really been a problem until recently,” she added.

The compliance issue has been raised in the past. The board was told the school is not out of compliance with the law unless there is a building renovation and that accessibility fixes can’t be done piecemeal.

Both board members Christina Torres and Kevin Christie pointed to the school having two classrooms that could be used as flex space if enrollment grows.

Torres called it a cheery school.

Board Vice Chairwoman Liz Heyer suggested a conversation with a space guru might be in order to see if some stopgap fixes could be made at Kings Highway.

Board Secretary Neil Phillips said the capital plan puts all schools on the radar, but that given the cost, needs must be addressed on a staggered basis.

“I don’t see the urgency to push this forward as a mandate to the administration right now,” Phillips said.

 Goldstein agreed ADA compliance is a big deal, but also an expensive one.

“I wouldn’t feel confident about creating a detour at this point,” Goldstein said. “I feel pretty confident about what we are doing and happy about the education that kids at Kings Highway are getting.”

“So nothing changes at Kings Highway,” Hordon said as a motion to adjourn was called.

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.