WESTPORT — School officials are looking at possibly spending at least $22 million to renovate Long Lots Elementary School or replacing the school entirely after a recent report presented to the Board of Education.
Colliers Project Leaders conducted a study to analyze various problems at the school, reporting renovations could cost $22 million, if not more. Charles E. Warrington, Jr., the company’s project management director, even suggested the school district should consider replacing the building entirely.
Board member Robert Harrington said it’s almost a “here we go again” situation.
Fresh off the reopening for Coleytown Middle School’s $32 million project, the school board is looking to use the lessons learned with that project to avoid a possible deja vu. The first way the school board plans to do that is to address the problem “expeditiously,” Superintendent Thomas Scarice said.
“I am very confident the board is going to take action expeditiously to move to the next step,” Scarice said. “I cannot see this languishing six, eight, ten, 12 months from now. I see board action happening.”
Maintenance has been a continual issue at Long Lots. Collier launched its study after mold was detected last August through a Tools For School analysis. While the mold was found and leaks were fixed, through additional testing Colliers found that the school needed more work. Warrington said some of the problems were just common things that are found in buildings built in the 1950s and 60s.
Long Lots was built in 1953 as a junior high school.
The study looked into indoor air quality, the building’s windows, walls, roof and ceilings, as well as the mechanical and electrical systems. It showed the building is “aging out,” Warrington told the school board.
Warrington said in a letter to Scarice that most of the systems in the building are past their useful life with many of them dating back to the original construction of the building. He said two of the major building systems are in poor condition, including the mechanical and electrical system.
“If one of these systems fails, it will typically cause the other to work harder or possibly become ineffective in its intended use,” Warrington said. “However, both systems are failing and in our professional opinion beyond their useful life where full replacement of the systems should be considered.”
Warrington said the building envelope — which consists of the roof, walls, doors, window and louvers, as well as the building slab and foundation — is also an issue.
“It is clear the building is aging out,” he said.
Scarice said the building is safe to inhabit and use and there has been “zero talk” about moving the 580 students out of the building.
While the report for the repairs at the elementary school came in at $22 million, Warrington said that the cost could go up. He said there are always hidden conditions within a building from this era that are “unforeseeable” until work starts.
“The possibilities are endless, but must be accounted for when budgeting for such a project,” he said.
Harrington and board member Neil Phillips said the board needed to get feedback from parents who dealt with the Coleytown renovation.
“Ask them if they had to do it over again, would they have [the school] built from scratch or renovate,” Harrington said.
Scarice said his intention is to return to the board in two to three months with two or three options that will better serve the school and its instructional model. Those options include a full renovation of the school, or to rebuild it either on its current footprint or somewhere else on the property.
“Now that a thorough review of the Long Lots Elementary School mechanical and building envelope has been completed, it will be necessary to review these projects in the context of the district-wide capital plan, and to make considerations for how the current facility supports, or hinders, sound elementary instructional practices,” Scarice said.
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