There has been a lot of discussion lately regarding the New Lebanon School building project. Given people’s natural tendency to blur details over time, we thought a refresher of timelines and events was in order.
From 2005 to 2009, Hamilton Avenue and Glenville School were rebuilt using very little state money with a price tag of about $30 million and $25 million respectively. At the time there was concern that Glenville was too big for its student population but it has since been pushing the boundaries of its capacity.
In 2011, all sections of pre-kindergarten were moved out of New Lebanon School because of the substantial increase in the schools population for the k-5 grade levels. The PTA presidents at that time met with school board officials then to express their concerns regarding the future space and physical plant constraints of the facility.
In 2012, two of our Public Schools, New Lebanon and Hamilton Avenue Schools were cited by the Connecticut State Board of Education for racial imbalance. Racial imbalance is cited when the percentage of minority population in a school is 25% more or less than the average for comparable schools within the District.
In July 2014, after an extensive public process, and considerable feedback from the Greenwich community, the State Board of Education approved a Racial Balance Plan presented by the Greenwich Board of Education. The corner stone of this plan was to increase the size of New Lebanon School to bring the building up to district benchmarks, increasing the overall capacity as well as the number of magnet students.
From 2014 to 2015 a feasibility study was completed and determined that the new facility would have enough space to properly educate the existing student body, retain all students in the catchment area and accommodate an increased magnet student enrollment as well as restoring the once existing pre-k program.
In 2015, the New Lebanon School Building Committee was formed and tasked with supervising all aspects of the project consistent with the educational specifications approved by the Board of Education.
During this time and to date, New Lebanon students are required to use hallways and closets as instructional space. Its Kindergarten students spend the first half of their instructional day at a local recreation center, and are then bused to the main school location for lunch and special classes such as Art, Music, Physical Education and Secondary Language. There is no space for these students to store their belongings so back packs find homes on hallway floors.
Under the Diversity Grant from the state, the Town of Greenwich is eligible, after final calculations, for a maximum of 62.5% reimbursement. This grant is beneficial, of course, but not required to complete the project; every project under consideration and eligible must first budget and appropriate the entire amount of funding for each individual project.
At the state level, the good news is that a bipartisan budget was passed recently by the House and the Senate and the funding reimbursement for this project was intact. Although the Governor vetoed this budget, we have faith that our delegation will continue to work to secure as much of a reimbursement as possible.
In Greenwich, we have a Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) committee that sets capital spending priorities. New Lebanon is currently the top priority. The CIP committee adjusts projects for appropriation each year. New Lebanon, therefore, has been appropriated for 100% of the project, if necessary. No taxes will go up as a result of this project, regardless of state funding. That is, because in Greenwich, we plan for capital requirements. On the heels of this project are other projects that require attention. Capital requirements and infrastrucure needs never go away, so we plan for them.
The RTM is scheduled to take up the specific item of allocating the appropriated funds for the New Lebanon school project on October 23 at the request of the BOE and the BET is expected to meet on October 24 to consider the recommendations of the RTM.
We believe all Greenwich students should be educated in adequate schools. These schools and the educational experiences that they offer should reflect the highest standards from our neighborhood schools. New Lebanon School is no longer an adequate school.
This project should move forward. We believe it is not just the morally correct decision, but a fiscally responsible decision as well. This is an investment in the future of Greenwich.
Henry David Thoreau said, “Goodness is the only investment that never fails.” If that is true, this investment will certainly find all kinds of success.
