Enfield Unveils School Overhaul Plan

ENFIELD, CT — Enfield officials are moving ahead with a proposed school overhaul that would replace the district’s current elementary school structure with four new PK-5 schools and a renovated Eli Whitney School for Eagle Academy.

The plan was outlined during an April 20 special Town Council meeting, where the PK-5 Elementary Schools and Eagle Academy Therapeutic Day School Pre-Referendum Committee presented what it called its preferred option.

Under the proposal, new PK-5 schools would be built at Hazardville Memorial, Prudence Crandall, Edgar H. Parkman and Henry Barnard. Eli Whitney would be comprehensively renovated for Eagle Academy.

Project leaders said the town is working toward submitting five school construction grant applications by June 30 and is aiming for a referendum later this year.

“We’re working towards submitting these grants June 30,” consultant Jeff Wyszynski told the council. “That’s going to lock in your reimbursement rate.”

Wyszynski said the project team has been studying building conditions, enrollment, programming, site layouts and construction phasing as it narrowed down options. He said the preferred plan is designed to address aging schools while also giving the district more flexibility going forward.

The proposal would move Enfield away from its current K-2 and 3-5 structure and back to a PK-5 model. Presentation materials say the plan is intended to preserve neighborhood schools, reduce student transitions, limit disruption during construction and create room for future growth.

Officials said the district’s elementary school buildings average about 58 years old. The buildings involved in the plan date back decades, including Hazardville Memorial, which opened in 1954, and Eli Whitney, which opened in 1967.

Councilor Carol Hall said some of the reimbursement details are still tied to state action, including waiver requests that could affect final numbers.

“The state reimbursements for the new construction piece of the project, which will be the elementary schools, will probably most likely be that 70% reimbursement,” Hall said.

Hall said the town is also seeking waivers tied to early childhood and space requirements, and that some reimbursement figures would not be final until the legislative session ends in May.

“Some of the numbers that we’re looking at may change depending on what takes place in this legislative session,” Hall said.

Hall said she supports sending the proposal to voters.

“We all know that our elementary schools need renovating, and I am certainly going to support this going out to the voter,” Hall said.

She also noted the town’s history with large school building votes.

“We do know history tells us that our school referendums, especially the big ones, sometimes first time round fails,” Hall said.

Councilor Marie Pyznar said she supports sending the proposal to referendum, but asked whether later phases could become more expensive because the work would be spread over several years.

Wyszynski said escalation for the later years had already been built into the estimates.

Pyznar also asked how much additional space the Eagle Academy portion of the plan would create. Committee Vice Chair Tina LeBlanc said the expansion would allow the program to take in about 75 more students.

LeBlanc also addressed the alternative to the preferred option.

“Plan B is $95 million and another referendum just to band-aid the schools,” LeBlanc said.

She said that option would not create room for universal pre-K and would not address major needs including HVAC, program space, overcrowding, security and parking lots.

Committee Chair Randy Daigle said the town has already lost time on the project.

“The town waited way too long and is currently three years behind schedule,” Daigle said.

He said additional delay would only push the work farther out.

“There is no time for a Plan B,” Daigle said.

LeBlanc told the council that existing building conditions have already affected students.

“We have already had students from Stowe displaced due to water issues,” she said.

Presentation materials compared the preferred option with a repair-based approach. Under that comparison, the preferred option was listed at an estimated local cost of about $89 million, while a “break fix” option was listed at $95 million or more to Enfield and would stretch over a much longer timeline.

The project would be completed in phases. Officials said three PK-5 schools would be targeted to open in fall 2030, with the fourth PK-5 school and Eagle Academy project targeted for fall 2032.

Later in the meeting, the council moved through resolutions tied to the school project’s grant application process.

Councilor Bob Cressotti said those votes were meant to keep the town on schedule.

“These resolutions do not lock us into a final decision about anything,” Cressotti said. “This is part of a process.”