Westport’s Long Lots Elementary School is set for a rebuild, with construction expected to begin any day now. The elementary school was originally built in 1953 and now needs a major renovation.
“The building was failing. We had a lot of issues with air quality control because the heating ventilating air conditioning, which is HVAC, HVC, is very dated and old,” Superintendent Thomas Scarice said.
There have been several concerns about the commotion this will cause on the property, as the students are staying in the current building during the construction. The Board of Education has met several times to discuss organization during the build.
“It is going to be a very large active construction site with a lot of people there everyday and a lot of traffic […] and we can’t say that it isn’t going to cause an issue for the kids–it is,” Katie Andrews, a local mom, said. “They’re young, so disruption matters to them. It affects them every day.”
Two of the Board’s ideas were to create a separate entrance for trucks to enter without going through the bus loop, and adding fencing to block off active construction sites from the students. There will also be an assigned full time SRO (School Resource Officer) for more security.
The construction layout includes many new features to benefit children’s learning experience. Larger classrooms, a new gym, bigger cafeteria, playground, courtyard and lots of natural lighting are some of the planned advancements. They are also adding the Stepping Stones Preschool into the building after it was previously located at Coleytown for so many years.
“They’ve designed it for a more modern day classroom, […] where the kids can work more collaboratively,” Board of Education Vice Chair, Dorie Hordon, said.
A key aspect of the model are the geothermal wells that are being installed. These wells will help heat and cool the building based on the season, while making the system more energy-efficient than traditional heating and air conditioning.
However, these plans do not include a relocation for the community garden at Long Lots. Many parents were previously concerned with the idea of having a public garden on school property.
“How easy would it have been for someone trying to target the school to pretend that they were showing up there as a community gardener and then gain access to the school property?” Andrews said. “Why is there a public domain sharing a property with a school that has a part time security guard, and doesn’t even have security there full time?”
As a result of these ideas, the garden is leaving the Long Lots property and the gardeners are now in search of a new location. There are several options for a new location, but it is up to them to find a new spot.
“I hope this town finds a great new location for the Community Garden. But that’s outside the Board of Education role,” Board of Education Chair, Lee Goldstein, said.
$103 million was set aside for Long Lots from town funding, making it crucial that the project stays within the budget to ensure financial stability and avoid delays.
“The biggest cost control is the fact that the town said that you can spend this much. It’s not like we could keep going back for more,” Scarice said. “So, they have to act with those parameters.”
