File Photo
Walsh Open Space Classrooms
Town leaders are hoping a new feasibility study of Walsh Intermediate School will find a solution to the long-discussed need for renovations or replacement of the outdated school.
First Selectman James Cosgrove announced Thursday that he hired DTC consulting firm of Hamden to do a feasibility analysis and cost estimates for three options at Walsh — new construction; renovating “as new”; and a hybrid option which includes renovation and new academic space.
“The most recent cost estimates and consultant recommendations for Walsh were simply not practical,” Cosgrove said in a prepared statement. “The superintendent and I know we need a cost-effective and long-term solution for the intermediate school that parents can rely on and the community and BOE can support.” He said he wants this study to result in action, and not be “another study that sits on a bookshelf.”
Efforts to update Walsh have been ongoing for years. Silver/Petrucelli & Associates conducted a study in 2013; and a master plan and feasibility study was compiled in 1998 by Kosinski Enterprises. Neither study resulted in any action.
The Eagle asked Cosgrove and School Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez what could make this study more successful than the previous ones.
Cosgrove told the Eagle Thursday that having the town and school district working together from the beginning will help facilitate the process. He said the scope of the study will be extensive. “This will give us options and three different scenarios,” he said. “It will go much further in depth.”
Hernandez agreed that cooperation between the town and the district is key. “The level of collaboration and cooperation and shared vision will make this feasibility study much more viable,” Hernandez said. “We really need to take this first step. It’s exciting.”
Walsh was built in 1972 as an open-concept school with few interior walls. Some walls and half-partitions have been erected over the years, but parents have continued to complain about noise levels and other issues, especially in the fifth-grade wing.
“I applaud the selectman’s commitment to address the long-standing and important issue of the next generation of WIS,” Hernandez said in the prepared statement. “The Board/Superintendent Team is committed to develop realistic education specifications which will become the catalyst to bring this project to fruition.”
Previous Studies
In 2012, the school district convened a Facilities Committee to look into the possibility of renovating or building new schools to replace both Walsh and Sliney Elementary School.
In the spring of 2013, the Board of Education (BOE) hired Silver/Petrucelli & Associates to conduct a study, which indicated it could cost $109.8 million to renovate and expand Walsh Intermediate School — an estimated $97 million after state reimbursement. Two options were presented for the elementary school — Sliney could be renovated for $29 million; or the former Branford Hills Elementary School could be renovated and expanded to serve the Sliney school population at a total cost of $32.7 million, with the town’s share being $27 million after state reimbursement.
The school district has since given the former Branford Hills School back to the town, and the school is slated for demolition.
The BOE unanimously approved the Silver/Petrucelli plan in 2013, but the town objected to the high price-tag.
The Kosinski report in 1998 called for constructing a fifth-grade wing at Walsh and renovating the rest of the school, but the board at that time did not take action. The 88-page report estimated costs for an addition and renovation at $28 million, compared to a new facility cost of $49 million, according to 1998 figures.
The Kosinski report targeted square-footage deficiencies in all classrooms throughout Walsh, with the greatest disparity in the fifth grade area where teaching stations averaged 55 percent of those recommended by the State Department of Education at that time. The report stated: “Such spatial inadequacy affects safety and code considerations, and hampers the full delivery of current teaching methodologies.”
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