Derby School Building Still In City Control

Though it officially opened in January, Derby Middle School has still not been turned over to the Board of Education — but that might happen in a matter of weeks.

Middle School Building Committee chairman Keith McLiverty, who also is the city’s treasurer, told the school board Tuesday that the last few issues are being addressed and the building will soon be ready to be officially turned over.

We think that will happen in September,” McLiverty said.

One of the issues being addressed involves the lighting in the school’s stairwells, which had been designed to stay on all night for safety reasons. But that prompted complaints from neighbors who objected to the glare from the lighting onto their properties, McLiverty said.

After the neighbors complained, we redesigned it so the lights are off at night,” he said. Motion sensors will turn them on if someone were to enter the area.

That issue is now resolved,” he said.

A separate issue involving the school’s elevators will take a meeting with state school building officials, he said.

The initial school design plans included provisions that the elevators only be accessible with pass keys, McLiverty said. 

Now, despite the fact that the State Facilities Unit signed off on those plans, it now says that the elevators must be accessible to everyone.

The state approved the building but then came back after it was built to say they don’t like it,” he said.

The elevator is supposed to be secure during the day,” he told the board, but the state wants it so that if you press a button, the elevator opens.

The state says if someone is handicapped, they won’t be able to access the elevator,” he said, but our argument is if they get to the elevator without stopping in the office, they should be arrested.”

McLiverty will be attending a meeting with state officials this week to discuss the situation.

He anticipates the state will allow them to keep the elevator locked while school is in session, but open after hours.

Once the items are resolved, the building committee will turn the building over to the school board, at which point it will be responsible for anything that comes up, McLiverty said. 

I don’t think it should be turned over until every item is done, and we are trying to address them all in the next few weeks,” he told the board.

Board member Stephanie D’Onofrio said she wants to see something done to slow down drivers in the school’s driveway, known as Nutmeg Avenue. The road connects Chatfield Street to Hawthorne Avenue.

The former city street is now considered a driveway, McLiverty said, and provides access to both Derby Middle School and Derby High School.

When I see people crossing the street I freak because then I’ll see some idiot driving 90 miles per hour on the road,” D’Onofrio said. I think speed bumps would be an awesome idea and we have to look into it.”

Speed bumps have been considered in the past, McLiverty said, but were never installed because of the problems they cause for snow plows. But there are alternatives the committee will look into, he said.

There was talk of closing the road so it was no longer a through street, but that idea was dropped.

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