By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–The school district can move forward with eight construction projects, including a revamped Staples High School auditorium, a team room for girls’ sports and upgraded science labs at Bedford Middle School, after the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) approved $3,574,260 for the work on Tuesday night.

Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice told the RTM that the work planned addresses longstanding needs.

“These are projects that have dogged the district for decades,” he said at the RTM meeting in Town Hall.

Almost 85% of the funds – a little more than $3 million – will pay to upgrade the auditorium, expected to begin in April and to be completed by fall.

“This is a safety-driven project addressing ringing, lighting, sound, and related systems,” said RTM member Nancy Kail, reporting to the full RTM that the finance and education committees both supported all eight projects.  “Multiple assessments identified deficiencies and needed repairs. There have been failures that have caused canceled performances and a four- to five-month shutdown last year.”

The team room for the girls’ sports at Staples High School will use $30,000 of the funds to design and plan, with construction costs coming later. It is proposed as a step toward equity between girls and boys in sports.

Emmah Tait, a 2024 Staples graduate, told the Board that the team room would not only advance equity between boys and girls athletics, but also would help to match what other districts provide for their student athletes.

“I just thought it was time to get that going and give the girls what they need,” she said after the vote. “It’s definitely a well-needed step forward.” 

The allocation will fund the actual construction of three of the projects: the auditorium; exterior painting, with lintel repair and recaulking, at five schools ($172,970); and replacement of a 60-year-old motorized folding partition in the Saugatuck Elementary School gym ($181,500).

The money approved for the other five projects will pay for planning. The district plans to request funds to build them once they are planned. In addition to the team room, they were:

• Upgrading the science labs at Bedford Middle School, $32,000
• Building a concession stand with bathrooms at the athletic fields, $25,000.
• Installing wireless access points at the athletic fields, $25,000.
• Replacing the roof and repairing exhaust fans at Greens Farms Elementary School, $70,000.

The projects approved would cost another $4.1 million in the next fiscal year to complete.

The RTM voted individually on each aspect of the construction, passing all of them unanimously except for the concession stand, which was approved by a 28-3 vote. RTM members Wendy Batteau, Seth Braunstein and Victoria Wylie opposed.

Batteau said she did not object to the concession stand, but felt that the money would be better spent on more work for girls’ athletics facilities, including upgrading showers and bathrooms, to advance equity even further. Wylie said felt that the town faces more pressing needs.

“Back in the day, parents would bring a cooler with their own food/drinks to games and serve them out of the backs of their pickups,” Wylie wrote in an email to Westport Journal.

Board of Education President Lee Goldstein said at the meeting that the bathrooms planned at the concession stand were key.

“We are just about the only district in this area that doesn’t have an outdoor structure for bathrooms,” she said. “This is very badly needed.”

Ken Valenti

^{_{A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.}}