By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT–A $17.7 million Capital Improvement Plan was unanimously advanced by the school board on Thursday, that excludes nearly $1 million in work to the Staples High School athletic fields.

The district hasn’t soured on the idea of adding wireless access and an outdoor structure that can accommodate a concession stand, restrooms and team space but wants to wait until a Master Plan Study of the space is completed later this fall.

Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice said it is not about slowing down, but making sure the work is aligned with what students, coaches, and the town want.

“There is still a gray area on who has to advance this to the funding bodies,” Scarice said of that portion of the funding request.  “Once we have our visions shared … I’m excited about bringing sports to the Staples campus as opposed to Wakeman’s (Field)…I don’t want to dig twice.”

The master plan might also include upgrades to the bleachers, press box and fields.

Earlier this week, the Board’s Finance and Facilities Committee had already taken the field projects off the list along with plans to create a girls’ team room and renovate the girls’ locker room inside Staples.

Scarice asked the board on Thursday to reconsider and it did. The outdoor plan, he said, would not replace the indoor locker rooms which female athletes made a strong case for last year.

Board Member Stephen Shackelford said he has heard mixed feedback on whether the planned indoor space would be used on a regular basis when a space closer to the fields is being considered.

“I’d hate to spend $500,000 on a showcase almost no one uses,” Shackelford said.

It makes more sense, he added, to make the team rooms part of the broader process.

A design for the girls’ team room inside the school has already been approved, the board was told. Existing locker rooms would be redesigned and updated to have a seating area, smart board, coach office space and minor storage. It would be independent of the locker room renovation.

No matter what is done outside, Scarice said, the interior locker rooms need to be addressed. If the project advances, construction would take place this summer.

Board Member Abby Tolan said she worried that if the funds aren’t requested now, the project might be delayed a year.

The full package, which is likely to be taken up by the Board of Finance in November, includes $6.5 million to air condition the Staples Field House, gym, locker rooms and fitness center. Approval came after the board was assured that those spaces, which until now exist without air conditioning, really need them.

“Everything here is backed up by a study,” Scarice told the board.

Two weeks ago, in addition to the air conditioning project, the board received explanations for some $9.5 million in other mechanical, safety and envelope projects throughout the district.

On Thursday, programmatic projects were aired.

They include:

• Updating eight science labs at Bedford Middle School. The existing labs are dated with fixed equipment and no options for flexible seating. The plan is to make Bedford science labs comparable to that at the recently renovated Coleytown Middle School. Design work on the project is nearly complete. Construction, which would occur in the summer of 2027, will cost an estimated $1 million or more.
• A $20,000 acoustical study of the Staples High School auditorium. Even after $3 million spent to replace rigging, lighting and the audio system, a request was made to possibly replace current plywood acoustical panels in the structure with better ones. It’s estimated the replacement work itself could cost nearly $160,000.
• $25,000 to design upgrades to the auditorium seating, carpeting and flooring and walls. The actual work, when complete, could cost an estimated $822,000.

Linda Conner Lambeck

^{_{Linda Conner Lambeck covers education for Westport Journal. She was a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications. She has covered education throughout Fairfield and New Haven counties. She is a proud member of the Education Writers Association.}}