District Hopes To Return To Central Middle School Feb. 22

GREENWICH, CT — This week, 540 Central Middle School students and staff were moved to other schools around Greenwich. CMS closed abruptly last week after town inspectors reviewed the building and had concerns about structural safety.

Greenwich Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones and CMS Principal Thomas Healy said in an email to families Tuesday night that they remains optimistic the building can reopen on Feb. 22. The district has a winter recess from Feb. 14 to Feb. 21.

"As our facilities department continues to have constant dialogue with our engineers, we remain optimistic that their solutions and safety precautions will allow the Town of Greenwich Division of Building Inspection to provide a safety clearance for everyone to return to the building following Winter Recess on Tuesday, Feb. 22," said the joint email from Jones and Healy.

A systems evaluation report released by the district last Wednesday stated there are "significant structural concerns" with the school, which was originally built in 1958.

According to the report done by Diversified Technology Consultants, Inc., by design, the taller masonry walls in the school have "insufficient lateral bracing for wind and seismic loads. This results in bowing and displacement of the masonry walls and adjoining facades. Wall ties that connect façades to masonry walls are beyond service life and failing."

District spokesperson Jonathan Supranowitz said earlier this week the move to other schools throughout the district went "relatively smooth." Sixth grade students went to Cos Cob School, seventh grade headed to Eastern Middle School and eighth grade students went to Greenwich High School.

"While we realize we have experienced a few bus delays, our administration and transportation department are playing a key hands-on approach to ensure all of our students and staff got to their destinations at arrival and drop-off," Jones and Healy said. "We thank all of our families for not creating extra congestion in the areas around our schools. Though [Tuesday] was much improved, we still identified greater opportunities and efficiencies in our system for transporting students and staff to and from each location."

Temporary learning places at host schools include classrooms, cafeterias, gymnasiums and auditoriums.

"Each day this week, we expect your child’s day to look a little different as our hard-working staff continues to get acclimated into their new surroundings. There will be even more breakout spaces at each location, and some of our physical education classes will go on as scheduled," Jones and Healy said.

"Each location is unique in terms of what is available for CMS to use for instruction, however we were able to create a schedule of classes for each site and increase the movement and interaction between students and staff today. We will continue to refine our practices to make the most of this week for all."