Marcia Chambers Photo
On Wednesday night while the Board of Education held its monthly meeting at the Walsh Intermediate School, the parents of incoming fifth-grade students took a tour of the school their children will attend this fall, a school without walls, internal doors or windows.
Last night many of those parents attended a Board of Finance (BOF) meeting seeking funds to soundproof the school.
On the tour, the incoming parents were shown the fifth-grade wing, as it is called, where different subject classes are taught in sectioned off spaces with half walls or partitions. (See photo above.) The fifth-grade wing occupies one side of a rectangle below which is a large open space that contains the school library and computer section.
Marcia Chambers Photo
The classrooms have no full walls. One space, not a room, might be a math class, the next an English class, the third a science class, the fourth a social studies class. Chatter from each class can be heard down the row, parents say. If you are in a math section, thinking math, you may well be hearing social studies or at a higher grade, listening to Spanish.
At the end of the fifth-grade wing, there is one traditional enclosed classroom, with no windows, for a sixth-grade class. And so it goes around the rectangle. If one is on the other side of the rectangle, looking at the fifth-grade wing, one hears the voices of parents. And that was in the evening with virtually no students in the building. .
Interestingly, not all spaces are without walls. Leaning over the balcony, next to the computer section, is a fully enclosed box, with walls and ceilings and doors. One enclosed room is for a seventh-grade social studies classes, complete with tables, chairs, walls. Next to it is an eighth-grade science class. Neither classroom has windows. But at some point an effort was made to create a standard classroom that would be free from outside noise. Typically these are for higher level classes, like seventh and eighth grade.
Fast forward one day toThursday’s BOF budget hearing on the school budget where it was standing room only as parents waited to speak on behalf of walls for Walsh. They wanted an allocation of funds to erect sound proofing at Walsh.
Since it was built in 1972, when the open classroom concept was popular, the school’s partitioned classrooms, one after another in a row, have presented sound challenges for teachers and students alike. Jennifer Aniskovich, a member of the Board of Finance, summed up her experience as a substitute teacher for one year as “abysmal.” She gave strong indication at the meeting last night that she would press hard to accomplish “walls” of some sort for Walsh by the start of the next school year in September.
“Shame on us as a town and as a Board of Education for not having a long term plan for Walsh,” she said. Parents who waited until 9:30 p.m., when the Walsh topic came up in during the capital budget section of the school superintendent’s presentation, applauded and shouted their approval.
Aniskovich also said to applause that finding ways to soundproof the classrooms was more important than the Board of Education’s move to the same building and that it should be completed by September, the start of the school term. “For me it is a much bigger priority than the office move,” she said. The other five members of the BOF did not voice their opinion.
In the end, it appeared that school officials would move quickly to present to the Board of Finance plans to soundproof Walsh. They will also move forward on moving the board’s headquarters to Walsh.
Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez and Frank Carrano, the board president, told the BOF they were at work on the sound proofing project, though it has not been formally budgeted at all for the 2012 – 13 year and the full Board of Education has not approved any changes for Walsh in its current budget.
They made their comments after they outlined via power point their proposed $50.6 million 2012 – 13 school budget. It was essentially a re-run of a presentation Hernandez made earlier this year. BOF members asked a variety of questions.
Hernandez (pictured) began work earlier this year on the soundproofing project when another group of parents protested the conditions and sought help. In fact, an outside estimate arrived yesterday but had not yet been analyzed, Mark Deming, the school’s director of facilities, told the BOF. The major capital plans in the budget dealt with a need for new roofs at two elementary schools and new technology. School officials gave no formal presentation on soundproofing Walsh because it was not part of their budget and they were in the early stages of gathering information.
The latest effort to gain traction on the soundproofing project came from Nichole Cipriano and Kate Ross, who spear-headed the initiative on the elementary school level. Cipriano is a co-chair of the Mary R. Tisko Elementary School Parents Assn.
They made an end run around the Board of Education, presenting a petition seeking soundproofing to the Representative Town Meeting, (RTM) which by state statute has no say in deciding project funding for the school district. The petition campaign, they told the BOF, had now grown to 300 names.
But the petitions garnered publicity and discussion and last night at the board of finance’s final hearing before meeting Monday to set the budget to send to the RTM, Cipriano and Ross took stage center to outline their joint plan. They had counted about 25 classrooms, they said, that needed soundproofing walls of some sort.
Cipriano (left) told the BOF that sound tests in the school showed an unacceptable noise level, making it difficult for kids to hear and learn and difficult for teachers to teach. She said 35 is the accepted decibel level, but that Walsh rises to 50 and even 70 decibel levels. “For 40 years we have been playing this game,” she said, adding it had to change.
She asked the BOF to “rectify this situation. I implore you. Make it happen. This isn’t new. Hamlet inherited this problem,” she said in a strong, clear voice.
Ross told the BOF that their estimate of soundproofing 6 classrooms was about $35,000. Given the number of classrooms in need, the budget, the figure might come in at about $150,000 but could be higher. It was clear that both parents had started the vetting process long delayed by school officials.
“I appreciate the diligence of the two parents,” Carrano said after their presentation. Speaking as chair, he said, “the board is prepared to move ahead.” He added that he had long-term plans for both Walsh and the John B. Sliney elementary schools. “The board abandoned the plans,” he said when the economy took a down turn. “But we are ready at a moment’s notice to resume and to make some long term plans for both schools,” he said.
Board of Finance chair Joseph Mooney observed that the soundproofing issue was not part of the school’s capital budget plan. The operating budget includes expansion of the pre-kindergarten program and other priorities. He suggested to school officials that they come up with a financial plan by the BOF’s April meeting.
“Are we talking about $200,000 or $800, 000?” he asked. He said the BOF needed an update for the bond issue, hinting that perhaps funding for Walsh could be achieved via that route.
“Look at the options and get back to us,” he said. School officials said they would do so.
Marcia Chambers Photo
Afterwards, parents surrounded Cipriano (pictured) and Ross, whose work, they said, was greatly appreciated.
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What in heaven's name came over school architects in the 1970's -- not only this place but East Rock and Jackie Robinson in New Haven. Building schools without internal walls or doors is beyond stupid. And building schools without windows is criminal.