By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — Armed with an adjustable $92.4 million 10-year capital plan, the Board of Education is ready to move forward on the first two years

This is year one.

The board voted 7-0 last week to ask the Board of Finance for $830,906 to fund projects in the 2022-23 school year.

The projects exclude a building envelope evaluation for Long Lots Elementary, which has already been evaluated, and Coleytown Middle which was recently renovated. That leaves four other elementary schools, Bedford Middle School and Staples High School, which would get comprehensive studies.

The projects on this year’s list are:

  • a security and accessibility evaluation of half the schools in town.
  • an in-depth evaluation of Coleytown Elementary to see if it can be renovated.
  • a modified mechanical evaluation at Saugatuck and Bedford.
  •  ancillary costs to wrap up the Coleytown Elementary School modular classroom project.
  • demolition of the modular classroom at Kings Highway.
  • HVAC work at Greens Farms and Kings Highway.

Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice said there are few items on the list that board members have not seen before. The total requested is less than originally penciled into the 10-year forecast.

“The reduced amount does not reflect a diminished priority … but rather this revision illustrates the thoughtful, thorough and meticulous approach the board has taken with regard to planning for the long-term welfare of the school facilities,” Scarice told the board in a memo.

Because the 10-year plan is new, this is the only year Scarice said he anticipates the school board will go to the town to fund capital projects in the year they are to be done.

Moving forward, plans call for the Board of Education to give the Board of Finance a package of projects in October for the next fiscal year.

As such, the board, at its meeting last week also approved a 2023-24 list that adds up to just over $2 million.

The 2023-24 list includes:

  • phase 2 of the security evaluation, more HVAC and boiler work at Greens Farms.
  • HVAC and gym entryway work at Kings Highway,
  • a modular classroom at Long Lots while the school is under construction,
  • replacing insulated glass at Bedford,
  • flooring in the Staples fieldhouse would be replaced and pool pumps upgraded.

The intent is to ask for all the projects at once each year. Town officials could decide which ones to support.

Board Chairwoman Lee Goldstein said town officials will have an opportunity to vote up or down on every project even though they will be presented together.

Changes in any of the projects would require the school district to return to the town for amendments, Board Vice Chairwoman Liz Heyer pointed out.

Scarice said by requesting approval of capital funding in the fall, town approval by January of each year would give school facilities staff time to issue requests for proposals and get vendors lined up so work can start once the academic year ends.

“That window over the summer is critical to get projects done,” Scarice said.

There was some discussion among board members of a 10 percent cost cushion in the projects list, recommended by Colliers, the district’s facilities consultant, and worked into the requests.

Heyer said it might be helpful to explain to the Board of Finance how the consultant settled on the 10 percent.

Board member Robert Harrington called the plan a sound one, which should get projects done at the right time.

It might be easier to sell what the school district is trying to propose, he added, if the town had a facilities director.

For some time, some members of the Board of Finance have pushed for a town facilities director to aid in prioritizing both town and school building decisions. So far, nothing has come of it.

“This is the best,” said Michelle Careymoody, a parent, when the public was asked to comment on the bundled school projects.

“As a parent, sitting in these meetings for many, many years this is the best [having it all presented together]. I think this is awesome.”

The 2022-23 request will go to the Board of Finance for review at its Wednesday, Oct. 12, meeting. When the 2023-24 request will be presented to the town has not been announced.

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.