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The Board of Selectmen unanimously agreed to nearly $14.5 million in bonding for a renovation project scheduled to start at the Mill Plain Road school next summer.
“We believe that this for this school and the work we’ve put into it, $14,485,000 is a reasonable number, and provides the environment for a healthy, productive educational facility,” building committee chairman Tom Quinn told the board.
The proposal would add more than 16,000 square feet to the school in classrooms and other spaces, in part to remove the portable classrooms currently on the campus. It would also “heavily renovate” another 15,530 square feet of existing space to add more classroom space.
The renovation also includes new measures to increase school security. The Riverfield School Building Committee met with the Fairfield Police Department team assigned to recommend physical and operational improvements to the town’s schools after the Sandy Hook School shooting. One of the major changes suggested by the police includes adding a vestibule to the front of the school that would separate visitors from the rest of the building until they check in with staff.
The plan approved Wednesday by the Board of Selectmen would also add air conditioning to all of the school’s classrooms. In the interest of cutting the costs to taxpayers, the building committee offered a plan that would not add cooling systems to any new spaces and would save $775,000.
But Quinn and a group of Riverfield parents persuaded the selectmen to keep air conditioning in the project. They said that because windows and classroom doors will need to be closed under new safety procedures, leaving out air conditioning would make classrooms too hot in the summer and spring months.
“It’s a lot of money, but I think it’s greater in value over the years than the money is going to cost us,” Selectman Kevin Kiley said Wednesday.
The building committee also found other ways to save about $650,000 from its initial projected costs since their last pitch to the selectmen earlier this year. For example, it plans to save $325,000 by reusing furniture from the portables and other schools instead of restocking the new classrooms. It also cut the square footage of new space for the project, combining a science classroom with a music room.
“We tightened everything we could possible tighten and still meet the specifications,” architect Kenneth Boroson said.
The Board of Finance and Representative Town Meeting still need to sign off on the project for it to be official. Both are scheduled to hear the proposal in June.
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