Fairfield Schools Aim To Finish Repairs by Sept. 1

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Principal Greg Hatzis and his students at Fairfield Woods Middle School will return from summer vacation next week to find construction crews roaming their campus. Their younger counterparts at Stratfield Elementary School, however, should see no work crews for the first time in years.

Fairfield spent summer working on various construction and maintenance projects at its schools, with different levels of success at finishing before school reopens Sept. 1. So what will kids, parents and teachers see when they arrive?

“Stratfield is looking great, outside and inside,” Thomas Cullen, the district’s director of operations, said in an email Tuesday. The school’s $17 million expansion and renovation is just about finished. Cullen said the town is working to get the final inspections finished, and everything should be ready for opening day. Students there will have eight new classrooms and 22 renovated ones, along with extra safety features.

Repairs to Jennings Elementary's bathrooms should also be done by Sept. 1. The district replaced the original deteriorating fixtures and made more of the restrooms accessible under the Americans With Disabilities Act’s guidelines.

The expansion to Fairfield Woods Middle School started in May and was always scheduled to continue into fall. But Cullen said the timeline was “getting close” to reopen the new classrooms by the school year.

Currently, Hatzis and his staff are working out of temporary offices at Fairfield Warde High School. The town hopes to have temporary permits to allow them to return by Thursday and get the full certificate of occupancy ready for the students’ return a week later.

Kids at the Early Childhood Center on Fairfield Warde’s campus will also have to deal with construction crews. Contractors are resurfacing the preschool’s old playground, which should be ready for Sept. 1. Construction on the new second playground will go into the fall but will be safely separated so the kids will be able to enjoy their old playground.

Holland Hill will also have work crews going early in the year but most likely out of the students' way. The school’s 33-year-old oil tank will come out of the ground this week, and crews will have the hole filled before school resumes. Workers will install the new tank, but that will take place in the school’s basement.

Planned repairs to Tomlinson Middle School’s façade and cornice are delayed indefinitely. The Representative Town Meeting was set to vote on the money for the renovations in June. But when the problems with the Fairfield Metro train station came to light, the legislative body decided to delay its decision. “I am hopeful they will consider this project as important as I do,” Cullen wrote.

What school renovations are you looking forward to seeing finished? Tell us in the comments below.

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