RIDGEFIELD, CT — A Board of Education committee agreed to move forward with discussions about reclaiming space for an expanded preschool program Aug. 11 while leaving larger decisions about school consolidation and a long-term facilities plan for the full board.
The Strategic Planning Committee also found broad support for prioritizing indoor air quality and HVAC improvements as the district develops a facilities master plan. Committee members did not select a specific long-term construction or consolidation scenario and said those questions require further discussion.
Committee Chair Scott Sigel said the next step would be to bring the issues to the full Board of Education, with the goal of narrowing the options before discussions with other town boards.
"I think we've got alignment on indoor air quality," Sigel said. He said the committee would continue considering what additional improvements would be consistent with the district's goals.
The committee agreed that Superintendent Susie Da Silva should renew discussions with town officials about the possibility of reclaiming space now used by Cadence Academy to address the district's preschool needs.
Sigel said consultants identified the Cadence space as the most cost-effective option among those considered for expanding and improving preschool facilities. Da Silva said town officials were already aware that the school district needs additional space for preschool and previously sought space for its alternative high school program.
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Da Silva said she would communicate with the Board of Selectpersons about the district's need for the space and the consultants' recommendation. She said the Cadence space is already configured for children in that age group and is connected to the Barlow Mountain facility.
Committee member Kathryn Graf asked whether centralizing preschool would provide educational advantages over other configurations.
Da Silva said having preschool students and teachers together would provide opportunities for collaboration among educators. The district currently has a satellite preschool classroom at Veterans Park Elementary School, leaving that teacher without preschool colleagues in the same building, she said.
Da Silva also pointed to the time required to construct new space. She said the district is seeing increasing needs among preschool children with learning differences and could potentially consider additional seats for typically developing peers if capacity becomes available.
Consultant Michael Zuba of MP Planning Group said using the existing Cadence space could meet a more immediate need, while a construction project could take five to seven years before providing a long-term benefit.
"That space is being used as pre-K. It's where you would want it in the building," Zuba said, adding that it would require relatively little work compared with constructing new space.
Near the end of the meeting, Graf asked whether the committee could explicitly authorize Da Silva to proceed with the communication. Da Silva said such communication was within the superintendent's authority and concerned a need already known to town officials.
Sigel, Graf, Dawn-Marie Callahan and Robert Martire indicated support for proceeding. "Absolutely," Callahan said. "We need to have that information just to know where else we land."
Much of the meeting focused on the district's facilities condition assessment and how Ridgefield should address maintenance and infrastructure needs while considering longer-term changes to its school buildings.
Sigel said the master planning process should not be viewed primarily as an effort to generate savings. He said the district needs to determine where investments are required to maintain facilities and improve educational and programming spaces.
Consultant Philip Conte from StudioJAED said the roughly $2 million annual level discussed for capital work would not be enough to meet the needs identified through the facilities planning process.
"At a minimum, it's not 2 million a year for 10 years," Conte said. "It's got to be like five or 6 million a year for 10 years, and that's just barely going to keep things from failing in that seven to 10 year window. So that is like the baseline."
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Conte said a master plan should make clear that school facilities need approximately $50 million to $60 million over the next decade, and potentially more. He said that level would largely address maintaining buildings rather than broader improvements.
Zuba similarly said maintaining existing facilities in good repair could require two to three times the amount the district has been budgeting. He said consultants need direction from the Board of Education about priorities so they can develop an implementation plan rather than simply present a menu of alternatives.
Indoor air quality emerged as one area where committee members appeared to have broad agreement.
Martire said he supported indoor air quality improvements but wanted the district to be prepared to answer how such investments would interact with possible school closures or consolidation.
"I am for the indoor air quality," Martire said. "I'm just trying to prepare for the next question."
He said financial modeling would depend in part on whether the district ultimately operates the same number of buildings.
Pat Gallagher, from MP Planning, said decisions about HVAC, air conditioning and indoor air quality were particularly important because they would involve adding infrastructure to many existing buildings. He said the consultants need direction on those issues before developing the plan.
Conte cautioned that adding air conditioning would increase operating expenses even if the district also replaced roofs and windows or made other building-envelope improvements.
"There is no savings economically when you introduce air conditioning into a building," Conte said.
The committee did not reach a decision on school consolidation.
Callahan asked whether Branchville Elementary School was expected eventually to cease operating as a school and whether the district could pursue a larger reduction in the number of schools it operates.
Zuba said closing Branchville was not a predetermined outcome. Rather, consultants had identified it as a potential candidate under a "newer and fewer" approach because of its smaller site, flood-zone constraints and facility needs.
Under that scenario, Ridgefield could construct a larger Veterans Park Elementary School capable of accommodating Branchville students, followed by redistricting to balance enrollment among the elementary schools.
Zuba said Veterans Park emerged as the most suitable elementary site for a larger project because of factors including utilities and its centralized location. He said Ridgefield's limited available land makes more extensive consolidation difficult.
Consultants also cautioned against making major investments in a building that might later be removed from the district's school portfolio. Zuba said decisions about future HVAC, electrical and building-envelope work should therefore be made with the long-term master plan in mind.
Martire said he wanted the process to remain focused on a long-term master plan rather than becoming primarily a short-term strategic exercise. He said the eventual proposal should identify what is best for students while also being financially responsible.
Conte said those goals could coexist, arguing that a master plan should also be achievable and flexible enough to respond to changing circumstances.
The consultants urged the committee to reduce the number of alternatives before presenting the plan more broadly.
Zuba said successful master planning typically requires narrowing the possibilities to a small number of options so town officials and residents can evaluate educational benefits, costs and long-term implications.
"We need to be able to distill things down," Zuba said.
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Sigel said the committee has established several points that can help narrow those choices, including the desire to expand preschool, address elementary school capacity and consider consolidation.
He said the larger consolidation decision should involve the full Board of Education and eventually the community.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Sigel said the committee would bring the outstanding questions to the next board meeting and seek to narrow the alternatives before a tri-board meeting. The committee would continue to prioritize indoor air quality while seeking additional input on consolidation.
"We have an eye towards consolidation with more input from the community, from the larger board, prioritizing indoor air quality, and we'll continue to narrow from there," Sigel said.
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