'Good Things Are Happening' at Hawley

Hawley School is the recipient of approximately $180,000 worth of upgrades this summer as workers repair the roof, replace the boiler, rehabilitate a set of stairs and transform a former physical education room into a café, officials said.

"It's a landmark that we value," Hawley School principal Jo-Ann Peters said of the historic building that dates to 1921. "I feel good things are happening here."

The most expensive work will be the $80,000 repair of the shingled roof, which has been deteriorating and leaking water for years, requiring frequent replacement of ceiling tiles, said Gino Faiella, the school district's facilities director.

"Moisture was getting into the eaves," he said, adding that part of the work was to replace the shingles as well as extend the roof past the eaves to block out moisture.

The old boiler also is being switched out and a set of outdoor stairs, which had begun to crumble and allow water to seep inside the building, also is being redone, Faiella said.

While those fixes are focused on building upkeep, the project that is nearest to the heart of Peters is the creation of a café, a project she had tried proposing seven years ago but was ultimately shelved because of lack of funding – that is until this year, she said, adding that no taxpayer money will be used.

The project's cost –  $50,000 – is to be paid exclusively from interest earned on the Mary Hawley fund, a private fund that was created to help pay for upkeep of the building after the town's benefactress donated the school to the town, officials said. Hawley was at one time the town's high school.

The elementary school has never had a cafeteria or cafetorium – combined cafeteria and auditorium – that many of the other schools have. It still technically won't have one because officials are calling the space a café, as a nod to the atmosphere they hope to create.

"Because it's a small space, we wanted it to be warm and inviting," Peters said, adding that in addition to being a dining area, the area, which can hold 96 children, is expected to be a venue for poetry readings and other arts. "The potential will be wonderful."

The room being transformed was at one time off limits because of flooding problems but after fixes were made to dry out the space, it became used as a second gymnasium. Earlier this year, district officials approached Peters and told her the fund had enough money in it to turn the space into a dining area, she said.

A committee was established to decorate the space and earlier in the year students participated in a Smartboard presentation to talk about the difference between a cafeteria and café, with teachers conjuring comparisons with coffeehouses such as the Blue Z and Starbucks, where music can sometimes be heard and patrons come to sit and relax with food and conversation, officials said.

So that meant the long tables often found in school cafeterias were out.

"I insisted on round tables for conversation," Peters said.

Students also will line up to buy lunch from a counter that will feature an awning overheard to complete the café feeling.

After making due without a cafeteria for so many years, with students eating lunches at their desk, Peters said she wanted the new dining space to be special.

"It will definitely bring changes to Hawley," she said. "It really will be a wonderful meeting area."