Holy Family School Building to Become Vacant as Town Adds School Space

The Board of Education may be struggling with how best to accommodate an overflow of students in the public schools, but the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport is facing the opposite predicament in Fairfield.

When Holy Family School on Edison Avenue closes its doors in June to merge with Our Lady of the Assumption School on Stratfield Road, the diocese will have about 34,880 square feet of vacant school space in a two-story building, according to the town Assessor's Office.

Holy Family School's building, which houses students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, will be empty around the time that the town embarks on a plan to expand Fairfield Woods Middle School, a $24.2 million project that was approved by the Representative Town Meeting on March 22.

The space crunch in town public schools will mostly be felt at the middle school level in upcoming years, though about half of the town's 11 public elementary schools have portable classrooms. The combined bricks-and-mortar capacities of the town's 11 elementary schools, without portable classrooms, is 4,473 students, while total enrollment at the elementary school level was 4,794 students as of March 1, a difference of 321 students.

The town's three middle schools have a combined capacity of 2,225 students, while enrollment is projected to peak at 2,602 students in 2012-13.

William Sapone, chairman of the Fairfield Woods Building Committee, said two weeks ago that the building committee wanted to have an addition of 14 classrooms built at Fairfield Woods Middle School in time for the 2011-12 school year.

The expansion of Fairfield Woods Middle School, which also includes construction of an auditorium, an auxiliary gymnasium and an expanded cafeteria, still needs approval from either the Town Plan and Zoning Commission or the town's Zoning Board of Appeals because the 25-acre property where Fairfield Woods Middle School and Jennings School are located is nearly at the maximum lot coverage permitted by town zoning regulations.

Accommodating a middle school enrollment of 2,602 students isn't as simple as building an addition onto Fairfield Woods Middle School to increase its capacity from 650 students to 840 students.

Enrollment at Fairfield Woods is projected to peak at only 683 students in 2011-12, while the other two middle schools will have more students than their capacities for the next several years, so the Board of Education has to look into the possibility of both redistricting and changing the "feeder pattern" that determines where students who graduate from elementary school go to middle school.

First Selectman Ken Flatto wasn't available today to say if the town had any interest in leasing space in the soon-to-be-vacant Holy Family School, but Jennifer Carpenter, Flatto's deputy chief of staff, relayed a message from Flatto to Fairfield Patch in which the first selectman said, "The town has communicated to Holy Family that the town has no imminent need for space at the school."

Board of Education Vice Chairman Pam Iacono said today that the idea was worth at least exploring.

"I think it's always good for us to keep our options open. We haven't discussed it as a board. I know the [Board of Education's] Facilities Subcommittee is looking at school space right now, and it may be worth them considering," Iacono said.

Iacono added that if the Facilities Subcommittee decided to ask the town for more school space, she didn't see why potentially leasing space at Holy Family School couldn't be a possibility. "If it comes on the market, I don't see why it can't be considered," she said.

School board member Tim Kery, who is chairman of the Facilities Subcommittee, and John Mitola, a committee member, weren't immediately available this afternoon to say if they thought Holy Family School should be considered for public school students.

In addition to classrooms, Holy Family School has an Early Learning Center, an art room, music room, nurse's office, remedial room for math and reading, advanced math room, science laboratory, computer laboratory, Parish Hall and gymnasium, according to the school's Web site.

Sal Morabito, the Board of Education's manager of construction, security and safety, said he didn't believe the state Board of Education had a requirement for minimum square footage in a public school classroom. He said new classrooms at Stratfield School will be 750 square feet and that kindergarten classrooms in Fairfield typically are 1,000 square feet.

Brian Wallace, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocse of Bridgeport, said last week that it would be up to Holy Family Parish to determine the future use of its school building. "The school building is owned by the parish. I don't know the exact legal construction, but it's fair to say the parish owns the building," he said. "The parish certainly will retain use of it and control of it."

Wallace said he wasn't aware of any potential use of the school building after Holy Family School merges with Our Lady of the Assumption School next year on Stratfield Road.

Father Guido G. Montanaro, pastor at Holy Family Parish, wasn't available this afternoon to say if the parish had any thoughts on how the school could be used after it becomes vacant.

Wallace said the diocese decided to merge the schools at Our Lady of the Assumption School, instead of at Holy Family School, because Our Lady of the Assumption was a larger building and already was equipped with the latest technology, including Smart Boards.