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SEYMOUR – A referendum is scheduled for Oct. 9, 2025 on whether the town should build a new Bungay Elementary School.
The project would cost an estimated $58.1 million. Seymour would pay an estimated $24.3 million of that construction bill after state reimbursement.
The town’s Board of Selectpersons unanimously voted Dec. 17 to send the project to referendum.
Educators at Bungay Elementary School teach children in kindergarten through fifth grade. There are about 450 students and 70 staffers, according to the school’s website. The building was constructed in 1954 and was last renovated in 1996.
Two committees – first a “Bungay School Facility Needs Study Committee” and then a “Bungay Elementary School Building Committee” – have spent more than a year detailing infrastructure issues at the school and studying the best route to take to address those issues.
The “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.
Antinozzi Associates, an architectural firm, advised officials that building a new school is cheaper than renovating the existing school: $58.1 million to build new versus $58.6 million to renovate.
Seymour’s Chief Administrative Officer and town treasurer Kurt Miller said the dollar amounts are not final.
“The board has not voted on any final amount to spend, they just voted to move forward with a new school,” Miller said. “We will tighten up those numbers with the building committee and come up with a final number probably at some point in February or March.”
Miller said the Selectmen will have to vote on a final cost before the October 2025 referendum. He said the town will schedule information sessions to go over the project and costs with the public.
Selectman Fred Stanek is the co-chairman of the building committee.
“The consensus of the committee is to build a new school, and the cost estimates speak for themselves,” Stanek said. “A new school will not only address all the infrastructure needs but also the educational specifications of 21st century education and safety concerns, such as separate ingress and egress for buses and parents and staff. A new school just makes sense given the cost estimates.”
Selectman Fred Stanek
According to conceptual plans, a new, split-level school would be built on the campus at 35 Bungay Road. The existing school would be demolished. A new softball field and multi-purpose field would be built on the existing school footprint. There would also be separate areas for bus drop-offs and parent drop-offs.
The new school would be built on where the playing fields are now.
The new school would house about 553 students, based on enrollment figures predicted over the next eight years.
Antinozzi Associates was hired in August to do a feasibility study and a facility assessment for the project.
The firm has worked on about 300 school building projects in Connecticut, including Seymour’s $32 million Chatfield-LoPresti School project in 2012.
The firm’s principal, Michael LoSasso, told the Selectpersons that building new is cheaper than renovating, in part, because the new school can be built without the added expense of relocating students. New construction is also quicker, another cost saving, he said.
The town could also get additional money back from the state once an audit of the project is completed.
“It’s less disruption to the students and the staff and we get a new school. It’s a no-brainer, I fully support it,” said Seymour Deputy First Selectman Al Bruno.
