Editor’s note: Following is a letter sent to Planning and Zoning Commission members, and a copy submitted to the Westport Journal for publication.

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Dear Commissioners, 

We are a group of former Stepping Stones Preschool parents and SPED PTA members writing to urge you to vote yes on the pending application for a new Long Lots Elementary School.

As weeks turn into months, it is extremely regrettable and frustrating to see that the approvals for a new Long Lots School building (which include a brand new Stepping Stones Preschool) remain stymied in front of the P&Z Commission. 

We urge you to keep the staff and future students of Stepping Stones Preschool at the forefront of your mind as you consider how to vote on Monday night.

The superintendent, the current Stepping Stones director and several longtime teachers have repeatedly highlighted the many limitations and challenges that their preschool faces daily in its current space at Coleytown Elementary.

Stepping Stones serves all preschoolers with special needs throughout our town. It is also the most inclusive pre-educational experience for neurotypical children … or rather, it was when the preschool had the space to maintain the 50:50 peer model standard. 

Sadly, it has not been able to admit neurotypical preschoolers at this rate for several years, and that is a missed opportunity for so many. The space constraints are such that, unbelievably, we have preschool students receiving their therapy in closets. 

On Monday night, you have an opportunity to do something about it.

Consider this: In the coming weeks and months, there are parents across Westport who will take their toddlers to the pediatrician and get flagged for language or developmental delays. 

There are others who will go to their parent teacher conferences in their current (private) preschool. They will be informed that the school cannot meet their child’s needs, and that their child will not be offered a spot in the next year’s preschool class.  

These are the families that the Stepping Stones staff steps up to serve year round (i.e., during the school year and during extended school year summer programs). 

Approving the application sends a powerful message to them that their young children who learn differently matter. It demonstrates that Westport values them enough to make their early education space a priority.

It shows that their elected officials will put politics aside and do what it takes to move this process forward so that our heroic staff members who deliver the critically needed interventions in early childhood have a decent place to work. 

Preschool is two or three years at most. Do not kid yourselves that further delays to the LLS/Stepping Stones project are costless. 

Each month you delay, the more special needs preschoolers will have their services delivered in unacceptable conditions. At this point, there is likely an entire cohort of preschoolers who have missed out because we should be further along than we are in the process.

It is the 1- and 2-year-olds that are being identified now who have a decent shot of enjoying the benefits of the new LLS building, but this is only the case if P&Z is willing to act.

Please do not let them down. Vote to approve this application. 

Respectfully submitted,  

Caroline and Aurelio Almonte

Candace and Tom Banks

Lynda Kommel-Browne and David Browne

Laura and Rob Campagnino

Stacie, Dylan, Shea and Carly Curran

Laura and Brad Franklin

Sivan Hong

Melissa and Chris Ligouri 

Sharuna and Pradiv Mahesh

Becky Martin and John Donoghue

Jennifer and Jeff Putman

Margaret and Mike Schwabe

Allison and Michael Walmark