The town is looking to sell the building at 98 Bank St. and move the Board of Education offices temporarily to the high school this summer.
The relocation would be for about four years, while the town renovates space at the Community Center on Pine Street.
Board of Education members Monday questioned whether the plans were the best for the district — and whether the town is moving too fast.
“I don’t think we’re in any condition to just pick up and move,” said Peter Kubik, Jr., the chairman of the board’s facilities committee.
Instead, Kubik said, the town should form a committee and study the proposal before making any decisions.
That’s what First Selectman Paul Roy has proposed doing, but Roy’s time frame is much shorter than what some Board of Education members think is necessary.
Roy, who spoke with the Board of Education Monday, said the committee will start meeting in the next couple of weeks.
He has placed $300,000 in the district’s capital projects budget for moving expenses, Roy said.
“I think we can get it done, and we’re going to work to get it done,” Roy said.
The central office staff includes the superintendent, administrators, accounting staff, technology staff and administrative assistants.
The building at 98 Bank St. also houses a day care and the Naugatuck Valley Health District offices. Roy did not address those offices at the meeting Monday.
The two-story brick building is about 15,000 square feet and sits on about an acre plot of commercial land.
Reasons
Roy said the town wants to sell 98 Bank St., which was a former school, to save money.
“We know we need to sell some of these buildings,” Roy said. “They’re getting to be very burdensome. Expensive to heat. Expensive to maintain.”
The town will also have another former school available when students from LoPresti School are joined with students at Chatfield School.
An expansion project at Chatfield School is underway now.
Meanwhile, the upstairs of the Community Center — which also houses the town’s senior center and parks and recreation department — is currently vacant, albeit gutted.
Concerns
Board members said moving the central office staff isn’t as simple as Roy says.
There might not be enough space at the high school, Kubik said.
And it might involve a financial investment to create a suitable space for the offices.
One major concern is how the central office would be separated from the high school students for security reasons.
“There’s many more people that go to a Board of Education office (than a high school),” said Edward Strumello, Board of Education chairman. “How will they enter the office?”
Kubik also questioned if the town would end up saving money, if the high school required severe renovations to be suitable.
“If it makes sense once we do the study, I’m all for it,” Kubik said.
This is NOT a new idea. This was addressed several years ago when Mr. Petruney was still the superintendent. Perhaps someone needs to locate the research that was done back then to determine why they didn’t move at that time. Additionally, they do not need luxurious office space. Cubicles and conference rooms are NOT that expensive…especially if they are temporary. Let’s stop wasting tax money on the BOE’s whims and start telling them where they can have space…they do work for us you know!
SeymourMom is correct this should have been done long ago when purposed by previous administrations. Also you have a town hall bulging at the seams, move the non essential departments over to the community center and free up some much needed space for meeting rooms and parking spaces. School Administrators need to start listening to the people who pay their salaries. Never could understand why the BOE needs to be away from other departments. Waste of taxpayer dollars that are needed elsewhere.