Wintergreen Sale Advances

Hamden is one step away from securing $16 million through a school sale — but some council and community members are asking for better communication from town officials before taking the cash.

During a public hearing held Wednesday night concerning the sale of Wintergreen School, the wooded home to many of Hamden’s special and alternative education students, residents and council members alike asked for clarity regarding the past processes leading up to the sale.

Some also expressed concern over an arguable lack of concrete plans for the future.

The Garrett administration is currently waiting on the council to make a final decision to authorize the sale of the school to Area Cooperative Educational Services, a nonprofit that previously ran a magnet school on the property and offered to purchase the building from Hamden last year. 

The council’s Municipal Planning and Properties Committee largely supported the sale Wednesday night, moving it forward with just one vote of opposition. The council as a whole is scheduled hold a final vote on June 21 before the sale is solidified. 

Committee Chair Abdul Osmanu said he voted against the sale with the assumption that it would pass through to the full council in order to ​“set precedent for getting information to us in a timely manner.” 

There is some pressure around the timeline of the sale. One complication is that the town is depending on cash from that transaction to fill budget holes before the end of the fiscal year, which concludes on June 30. In other words, the town could fail to follow through on a promise to investors to build their fund balance by that date if the sale isn’t finalized in the coming days. (Read more about that here.)

The sale of that building has high-stakes implications not just for Hamden’s wallet, but for the district’s students.

Since the council flat-funded the Board of Education (BOE) this budget season, the school system is hoping to share in part of the Wintergreen proceeds to cover spiking transportation costs and capital projects.

And selling Wintergreen is part of a constantly evolving, multi-part BOE plan (known as ​“3R”) to reorganize school facilities and thereby institute more pre‑k opportunities, lessen segregation between classrooms, and consolidate costs, all of which has yet to be successfully implemented after years of controversy and changes to the plan of action.

Mayor Lauren Garrett and BOE representatives called the school sale a chance to right past wrongs by overriding practices of fiscal mismanagement by the town and undoing votes to close neighborhood schools and displace children by the school district.

But others were confused about the terms of the deal and skeptical about the town’s ability to follow through on their intentions.

“I’ve been hearing a lot about this sale for a while and trying to find the actual facts has been hard,” resident Chris D’Acosta said to the council. He asked where he could find clear information about the sale so ​“I can raise my thoughts and opinions on facts, not hearsay.”

A few people showed up to seek answers to questions and rumors they had heard floating around.

Cecilia Shea said she heard during council meetings that the district would hand over all the furniture inside of the building through the terms of the sale. ​“To me it seems kind of confusing,” she said.

“You’re giving away all the furniture. That doesn’t seem right to me. I mean, you just don’t do that,” said another resident, Anthony Dattilo. 

Plus, ​“the sale of Wintergreen was supposed to be $30 million. How come we sold it for $15 and change?” he inquired.

Council members also asked whether the town had sought any other offers for the building. ​“We often talk about things going out to bid,” Councilman Justin Farmer said. What about Wintergreen?

Beyond uncertainty, there was also a deeper thread of frustration.

Tom Figlar recalled when Hamden first kicked ACES’ Interdistrict Magnet School out of Wintergreen years ago to make space in the building for in-district students. That was the first component of the 3R program, which in total would have relocated three different schools. That never happened, as the board was talked out of shutting down two neighborhood schools containing Hamden’s most diverse student populations.

But, Figlar said, the decision to sell to ACES is now ​“three years too late.” If the BOE had listened to parents at the time, he said, no student would’ve had to move schools and the town wouldn’t have wasted energy and resources on updating and editing their plans to consolidate facilities.

“Roughly 300 kids were displaced,” he said. ​“As happy as I was to see the sale go through… this is very, very frustrating… nobody listened to us.”

Administration then got a chance to respond.

The Chief Operating Officer for Hamden schools, Tom Ariola, corrected claims that the district would give away all of its school equipment. ACES will hold onto any ​“fixtures,” he said, like lighting and white boards which are built into the building, but the town will take back any other equipment, like ovens and desks.

“That’s not a deal breaker,” Ariola said.

“The only other offer I’ve ever seen is a letter of intent authored probably a year ago,” Ariola added in response to suggestions that the town missed out on opportunities to sell the school for a higher price. He said the current proposition from ACES was the heftiest formal offer the district has ever received for the building. Even an agreement negotiated by former Mayor Curt Leng last year wrapped around a five-year timeline that featured a balloon payment, meaning the town would not have received the majority of the $16 million until 2027. The current contract will give Hamden $16 million in upfront cash.

Mayoral Chief of Staff Sean Grace clarified that the town had never put Wintergreen ​“out to bid” because ACES came to Hamden with an offer before the town was considering selling.

He said the town is adding a bid waiver into the contract because Town Attorney Sue Gruen suggested they do so ​“out of an abundance of caution” despite the fact that the understanding was that a bid waiver isn’t necessary to solidify a contract of property sale.

While both council reps and the public were eager to clarify public concerns and questions, the majority of reps stood by the decision to sell.

“If someone offers to buy your property I don’t think you say, ​‘Hold on I’m going out to bid,’” Councilman Cory O’Brien said in defense of the town’s decision not to field additional offers. ​“It’s not normal to go out to bid if we are not initiating this sale.”

“This is a good offer and a wise decision to make,” weighed in Karlen Meinsen, a Hamden resident who also serves on Hamden’s Diversity Advisory Council. ​“The town has some tough decisions to make to get its finances in order — though flat funding the board of education should not have been one of them.”

Meinsen argued that the BOE and town must pursue a more collaborative relationship — ​“If you could see that you’re fighting for the same causes, it would be far more productive,” she stated.

“I feel very confident that this is the right thing to do,” Councilwoman Sarah Gallagher added. ​“But I do want to know what the process is for making the decision of where and how to find a permanent home for HCLC,” she said, referencing the alternative education program that operates out of Wintergreen and turning the focus to the Board of Education.

The BOE and town have agreed to lease space from ACES next year to keep the Hamden Collaborative Learning Center housed and intact, but plan to find a new home for the school within the following year.

Superintendent Jody Goeler provided an overview of the current state of the school reorganizations, saying that the BOE needs time to identify a new space for individualized instructional classrooms and alternative education. A plan to expand the Hamden middle school is also progressing, which will make space in elementary schools to institute more pre‑K programming.

Not all the details are fully worked out, Goeler admitted, such as where to house HCLC students, because ​“it’s a complicated process.” The most important thing, he said, is that elected officials have to ​“be nimble.”

“That’s a good goal, but it’s not a plan,” Farmer said, suggesting the BOE should be in line to execute an edited 3R plan once the sale is finalized, rather than continuing to work on uncertain terms. That includes a clear pathway to better integrate students of different backgrounds if the BOE determines not to close its neighborhood schools, Farmer said.

“The BOE over the past couple of years has changed its plan multiple times. Without a plan, it’s very hard to approve money,” he said. ​“I want to understand the plan so we can figure out what to do with our finances. We don’t have the finances to yo-yo back and forth anymore.”

He turned to the administration next. ​“As we move forward with other potential buildings being sold, I wanna know the value of them… we on the board need to know, and not last minute.”

“I wanna make sure we get every penny that we can because once we sell an asset, there’s no way we’re getting it back.”