A photo of the Bungay School from Google Maps.
SEYMOUR – The Bungay Elementary School Building Committee will hold two public sessions to discuss whether the 70-year-old school needs an expansion, a ‘like new’ renovation, or a new building.
The sessions will take place at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 8 and Oct. 16 at Bungay School, 35 Bungay Road.
Fred Stanek, a member of the Seymour Board of Selectpersons, is the chairman of the building committee.
He said at a Selectpersons meeting last week that the public will hear from Antinozzi Associates of Bridgeport. The board hired the company in August for $44,000 to do a feasibility study and facility assessment. The firm is reviewing the school’s infrastructure and developing conceptual design plans and cost estimates for the three options.
Stanek said cost estimates for all three options should be ready in December.
The committee will then recommend the best option and present it to the Seymour Board of Education in January for a review. The project is eligible for state reimbursement. Click here for the guidelines.
The Seymour Board of Selectpersons could schedule a referendum on the project. Stanek said that could happen in March.
Bungay School was built in 1954. It was last renovated in 1996.
A previous “facility needs” committee pointed out Bungay has its original windows, bathrooms and flooring. Its cooling system can’t keep up when temperatures rise. The building lacks air conditioning in the gymnasium, and is also short on storage and parking. Click here for a previous story.
A shared exit for buses and student drop offs causes traffic problems on Bungay Road, officials said.
According to The Connecticut Post, Seymour’s last big-ticket school building expense was 2012, when the roughly $32 million conversion of the old Chatfield School was completed and became the Chatfield-LoPresti Elementary School.
Students from kindergarten to fifth grade attend Bungay. There are at least 450 students and more than 70 staff members, according to information posted on the school’s website.
