Opinion: 'Leasing Portable Classrooms is a Positive Step in Recognizing School Facility Problems'

The following is a letter to the editor written by Victor Bucci

"Brookfield’s school facilities need to be addressed. The Board of Education needs to explain to residents that even if the school population declines, Brookfield schools need major work. Center Elementary School needs windows and siding. Center School was built in the late 1930s and is probably the only wooden school in use in Connecticut. If Brookfield wants to keep it, it has to be updated. In 2012, a Town Facilities Committee identified Huckleberry Hill Elementary School as needing a total renovation.

No matter whether enrollment goes up or down, Brookfield will need HHES to educate its children.

This year, the Board of Education will lease new portable classrooms to replace the deteriorating portables at HHES. Whisconier Middle School also has aging portable classrooms that are well past their life expectancy. Whisconier will have over 880 students in September, 2016 taxing its core facilities (cafeteria, gym, etc.).

2015 Brookfield Plan of Conservation and Development Effective July 2, 2015 Pages 84-85

"EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES: A principle concern about Brookfield’s educational facilities is that they are aging. Established in 1938, Center School is the oldest wooden school building still in use in Connecticut. It holds pre-school, kindergarten and first grade classes. Maintenance of this building is key to continued use.

The roof of Huckleberry Hill School was replaced recently; however, the exclusive use of electricity to heat and cool this building is a substantial annual expense. Upgraded windows are needed to reduce heating and cooling energy losses. Brookfield High School completed a major addition during the prior planning period including classroom space and science facilities addressing the issues presented in the 2002 Plan. The gymnasium floor was refinished but upgrades to the auditorium continue to be a need.

At both Huckleberry Hill Elementary and Whisconier Middle School portable classrooms have been used to accommodate the need for more classroom space. A Space Utilization Study is underway by the consulting firm Milone and MacBroom to project the need for more permanent solutions to space requirements in light of projected demographic shifts and limited potential for addition of significant numbers of single family homes. Issue: Aging middle and elementary school facilities Goal: Upgrade our educational facilities, in particular Huckleberry Hill School and Whisconier Middle School, which have been utilizing portable classrooms, in order to provide high quality education facilities."

In most school districts, elementary schools have 20 – 25 regular classrooms, a cafeteria, gymnasium, dedicated rooms such as music, art and special education with student populations of about 400-500 students. If Brookfield just replaced all of its portable classrooms, the new construction would equal over half of a new building. Even if school enrollments decline which is doubtful due to the over 1,000 housing units built or approved to be built along Federal Road and in the Four Corners, Brookfield will still need to maintain and repair the present school facilities and replace the portable classrooms.

At the First Selectman’s Debate as reported by the Brookfield Patch, Steve Dunn stated renovations are needed at Huckleberry Hill and Center School. “We can’t have our kids sitting in portables. We need to come up with a real plan....working in conjunction with the Board of Finance...to come up with a plan that works for our town....so that our kids can be educated rather than dripped on.” Bill Tinsley said, “It will be a very expensive project. I think it’s the top priority, the top capital priority for the town.”

The best course of action is to commission an engineering study (not a space utilization study) to evaluate the condition of Huckleberry Hill Elementary School, to report the condition of Center Elementary School, and decide on the disposition of Brookfield’s aging portable classrooms. The News-Times quoted Mark Mulvaney, a member of the Board of Finance, calling the portable classrooms at HHES “embarrassing.”

What is more embarrassing is that the portable classrooms purchased in the 1960s and 1970s, meant to be temporary, are 40 and 50 years old. Leasing portable classrooms for HHES is necessary because Brookfield has a history of ignoring its school facilities. At best, replacing the HHES portables is a stop gap measure not a solution. This should be Brookfield’s priority to take care of its children. Hidden in the background are the over 1,000 housing units that are being sold, rented, or planned and approved for Brookfield’s Federal Road corridor and the new school that may have to be built.

Leasing the new portable classrooms at HHES is a positive step in recognizing school facility problems which hopefully will be supported by the voters in May but it is simply a band-aid on a school district that needs major surgery."