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A feasibility study indicates it could cost $109.8 million to renovate and expand Walsh Intermediate School — an estimated $97 million after state reimbursement. The total cost to upgrade Sliney Elementary School would be $29 million — an estimated $23 million after reimbursement. The two combined after state reimbursement would come to a whopping $120 million.
“It’s certainly a lot to think about,” said BOE chair Frank Carrano.
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By comparison the Guilford School District this summer is expected to begin construction of a new high school that will cost about $92 million, with the town’s share being about $63 million after state reimbursement.
“These are purely concepts … not schematic designs. These are just ideas,” said architect David Stein of Silver/Petrucelli & Associates. Stein outlined major renovation proposals during a 45-minute presentation at Wednesday’s Board of Education (BOE) meeting. The firm is the same one that designed the town’s new fire headquarters.
“We’re going to have to look at this seriously,” said board member Michael Krause. He said a feasibility study more than a decade ago made similar recommendations, but the town was not interested. “The costs are basically double now,” Krause said. “We don’t want to wait another 11 years. Who knows what the numbers would look like.”
The two renovation proposals come as enrollment at the intermediate school and in the district has been declining. In January, Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez said there were 996 students at Walsh, the lowest enrollment in six years. The highest enrollment in recent years was 1,101 in June 2010. Hernandez estimated there will be 946 students at Walsh next year, a drop of 50 students from the current year. He said the total enrollment for the district is 3,217, also the lowest in the past six years.
The new feasibility study was based on an enrollment of 940 students at Walsh.
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Here is the design of the fifth grade wing.
NEXT STEPS
“We’ll continue the discussion….and heavily engage the community in the discussion,” said Hernandez. “As difficult as it may be, it’s a discussion we need to have.”
Carrano told the Eagle that the next step would be to form a Building Committee to discuss options and hold public hearings. School officials previously said new construction or major renovation projects typically take from five to 10 years, which includes discussion, planning and design phases. Any school construction or renovation project would have to be approved by the Board of Finance, the Representative Town Meeting and the state.
A facilities committee convened by the BOE last year looked into the possibility of renovating or building new schools to replace Walsh and Sliney. Click here to read about the committee’s November meeting.
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.
Prior to last night’s meeting, parent Nichole Cipriano told the Eagle that ceiling tiles recently installed in some areas of the school seem to help reduce noise levels. “It’s a start,” she said.
Hernandez said at the March BOE meeting that plans to renovate Walsh may accelerate due to heightened concern about school safety issues statewide.
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Stein (pictured) said the maximum state reimbursement for Branford is about 36 percent, with actual figures based various factors including student population and square footage of the building. “It’s a sliding scale,” he said.
Stein said renovating Walsh is a “very difficult concept in terms of a traditional school.” The 243,000 square-foot building is located on 29 acres and houses students in fifth through ninth grades. Stein said the state would not allow a new building of that size to be constructed today for the current enrollment. “That’s the incentive to renovate your building (rather than build a new one). You’re going to get the biggest bang for your buck from the state,” Stein said.
Stein said despite the size of the school, the classrooms are smaller than current state requirements. Stein is proposing to build a new wing for the fifth grade, and to raise the roof to construct a second story. He said that during construction, portable classrooms would have to be brought in to house some classes.
The Facilities Committee last year discussed a master plan compiled in 1998 called the Kosinski report. It recommended constructing a fifth-grade wing 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. Click here to read about that report.
TWO SLINEY OPTIONS
Stein said there are at least two options for the aging Sliney school, which was built in 1928 as a high school.
The building could be renovated and an addition could be built to accommodate 365 students at a total cost of $29 million. Or the former Branford Hills Elementary School could be renovated and expanded to serve the Sliney school population. The total cost for the Branford Hills option would be $32.7 million, with the town’s share being $27 million after state reimbursement.
Stein said Sliney is in fairly good condition structurally, but that there is extensive asbestos in the walls which would have to be removed in order to renovate. He said the school has the advantage of being an old-fashioned neighborhood concept. “We know how important that is to the community.”
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He said the Sliney site (pictured) is “fairly tight” in terms of expansion, but an addition could possibly be built to accommodate 12 classrooms. He said renovating the building will be problematic while the students are in class. The work would be done in phases and would take about 30 months.
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The other option would be renovating the former Branford Hills School on Burban Drive, which sits on 12.87 acres. Stein said the Branford Hills project would be “fairly simple” and a two-story addition would add 22 classrooms. “This is a lot easier to build,” he said.
Stein said a bonus of this option would be that students could remain at Sliney until work at Branford Hills was complete. He said if this project was done first, then some students from Walsh could be housed at Sliney while construction was ongoing at the intermediate school. When Sliney is no longer needed, Stein said it could be repurposed into a variety of options, including a senior center or a community building or housing.
“These are concepts that will hopefully engage further conversation,” Stein said.
DISTRICT SAFETY COSTS
The board also discussed costs to upgrade safety features throughout the school district. Mark Deming, director of facilities, told the board it will cost about $70,000 to $75,000 to upgrade locks, doors, panic buttons, cameras and emergency software. He said that didn’t include costs to improve the public address system, which haven’t been determined yet.
Hernandez previously outlined the safety upgrades, but no dollar figures were given.
There is currently no money in the proposed school budget for improving security at the district’s five school buildings. Carrano previously said any major expenses for the upgrades could be an addendum to the capital budget.
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The $97 million projected net cost to Branford taxpayers to renovate Walsh is a number we can't afford to spend or bond. Prudent municipal spending and debt management preclude bonding more than principal repaid in a comparable period. Other large bond issues will be undertaken prior to this, such as the public works garage and the senior center.
There is a fiscally responsible way for the Board of Education to proceed. I am certain that no present member of the BOE knows that Walsh was built entirely with state funds as a prototype open space school in the late 1960s. Special legislation was passed by the General Assembly that was the work of the then state senate majority leader and a Democratic state central committeeman to fund this school. It was to be an experiment in education and time has shown it to be deficient. The BOE should petition and negotiate with the state to pay 100% of the renovation and expansion of Walsh because it was part of a flawed concept of the 1960s that the state then advocated. Such a large expenditure would not now be needed had a conventional school been built.
As Town Treasurer and a taxpayer, I believe that our fellow Branfordites should not be forced to endure bond payments for the mistaken judgement of the state in the 1960s.