By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT–The school board voted unanimously to ask the Board of Selectmen to form a building committee for a new or renovated Coleytown Elementary School.

Even if construction is years out, Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice said the action will kickstart a project that is the district’s highest capital priority behind a new Long Lots Elementary School.

The Long Lots project, finally underway this year, is expected to cost $103 million by the time it opens in the fall of 2027.

The hope with Coley El is to avoid the year-long delay that occurred after the school board did preliminary studies to determine Long Lots should be replaced (and not renovated) only to have a town-appointed building committee conduct the same studies to reach the same conclusion.

This gets the ball rolling, Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice told the school board at a Feb. 5 meeting.

 Coley El doesn’t have the mold issues that forced the evacuation of Coleytown Middle School in 2018 or the numerous mold, ventilation, water and systems issues of Long Lots, but its getting there, officials said.

“We have a positive learning environment and safe facility,” Coleytown Elementary School Principal Safiya Key told the school board. “But it most certainly is a building that is aging.”

Located at 65 Easton Road, Coleytown Elementary was built in 1953 but has had several additions. Its campus abuts Coley Middle School on North Avenue.

Most of Coley El’s current problems are ceiling and roof related. A kindergarten class had to be temporarily displaced this fall because of roof leaks.

“We have to make sure our young learners have a quality in-classroom environment,” Key said.

Board Chair Lee Goldstein said she completely supported the call for a building committee.

Board Vice Chair Dorie Hordon agreed and called it exciting.

“It shows the board is committed to getting ahead of things. I fully support it,” Hordon said.

Freshman Board Member Andy Frankel also supported the request.

“To me, it’s a no brainer,” Frankel said.

Goldstein said the request for a building committee is not the same as asking for a new school. Rather, it is asking for a feasibility study.

“Coley El is not like Coley Middle,” Goldstein noted.

The mold problems at Coley Middle shuttered the school for two years as repairs were made, forcing all middle school students to cohabitate at Bedford Middle School.

The point is not to let it get to a crisis level, Goldstein said.

Scarice said a study conducted by Antinozzi Associates in 2023 suggests that Coley El would not be a good candidate for a renovation project under state reimbursement guidelines.

Unlike Long Lots, Coley Elementary does not have a campus that can support a new school being built alongside an existing one, district officials said.

Antinozzi also warned that the property’s septic system needs to be evaluated.

Septic systems are beyond a school district’s purview, Scarice told the board.

Although uncertain of what the timeline would be for a new Coleytown Elementary, Scarice told the board it should not be squeamish about the request.

“We said this would be coming eventually,” Scarice said.

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.}}