School Building Committee Gets Taste of Task at Hand

The East Hampton High School Building Committee officially got started on Wednesday night, perhaps fittingly, at the high school.

The town council moved quickly in forming the committee, putting out a call for volunteers the beginning of February and by March 15 deciding on a , two of which are alternates.

All were present on Wednesday and the first order of business was to select a chair and vice chair. The call for nominations was initially met with quiet, but the committee did unanimously decide on Sharon Smith as its chair and Michele Barber as vice chair.

“One of my goals in putting this committee together, was to make sure that the best and brightest from the community would volunteer and I believe we found those people in you because you’re our best resource in this community,” Town Council Chair Sue Weintraub said. “I’m so pleased, as is the council, that you volunteered. … I know you’re going to do an incredible job in deciding what this high school needs and what we can afford as well.”

Weintraub was on hand to assist the committee getting started and by answering any questions it had.

One of the first issues the committee has to tackle is deciding how quickly to move on a referendum. For a referendum to be held this November, the committee would have to complete a number of actions before the town council could set a referendum date. The council would have to set that date before the end of August, thus fulfilling a 60-day requirement for the referendum to be held on election day.

The two biggest are putting out a Request For Qualifications (RFQ) to find an architect to put together educational specs and design specs. After reviewing responses and perhaps conducting interviews, the pool of candidates would be narrowed and those remaining would be invited to respond to a Request For Proposal (RFP).

From there, an architect would be chosen based on cost, references, an interview and other factors determined by the committee.

A preliminary design would have to be completed in time for the board of education and town council to approve in August. The plan is to renovate the high school as new, which would result in the state funding about 60 percent of the project.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Judith Golden said a lot of advance work is being done to assist the architect when hired.

“We’re prepared to work hard and quickly and do whatever you need us to do to help you achieve that goal if that is your wish,” Golden said of meeting the August deadline.

If the project does go to referendum in November and is approved by voters, construction wouldn’t begin until 2014 at the earliest. When it does, the high school will remain operational.

“We need swing space,” Golden said. “I have seen many different ways of doing swing space, so once we have a preliminary design we can begin to work that out.”

Said assistant superintendent of schools Kevin Reich: “It’s amazing what the staff and the students will do to get an improved high school. They are not the issue.”

Should there not be enough time to get the necessary work done in time to meet that deadline, the town would have to wait till 2013 to hold a referendum.

Early indications are, the committee will try to get the referendum held this year.

An aggressive meeting schedule through the end of May was set, with the committee scheduled to meet each Thursday beginning April 26 at 5:30 p.m. The one exception is May 16, a Wednesday.

Another sign was that the committee voted to approve the submission of the RFQ. Town Facilities Manager Frank Grzyb had one already prepared and after a few minor revisions, it was approved unanimously. Grzyb will have the responses to the committee members prior to their next meeting on April 26.

"I think if we're aggessive in the beginning, we can really find out and say yes we can do this or no we can't," Smith said of getting the referendum set for this year.

After the meeting, High School Principal John Fidler took the committee on a tour of the high school.

Many of the issues were obvious, from small lockers to a science wing that is outdated and simply looks old. There were cracks in floors, a kitchen that looks much as it did in the 1960s and classrooms where the wood shop and auto shop once were. That's some of what could be seen. According to Golden, there are issues relating to lead and asbestos, too.

“There’s a lot that could be done just in tasteful design to change the bones of this building into a building that really could be something you can be comfortable with,” said Assistant Superintendent of Schools Kevin Reich, who added that it is not a very efficient building, one that burns between 62,000 and 65,000 gallons of oil a year.

“That’s an area you’re going to be concentrating on because that is going to pay dividends for the next 30 years,” Reich said.

The board of education requested in January that the town council appoint a building committee to oversee the renovation of the high school and procure the funding from the board of finance to complete the preliminary designs and educational specifications.

Since a feasibility study in 2005, movement on a renovation plan has been slow.

In March 2011, representatives from Kaestle Boos Associates, an architectural firm that specializes in the design of schools and other municipal buildings, and O & G Industries, a construction company based in Torrington, attended a board of education meeting to share their preliminary design, cost estimates and timeline for the school’s renovation, which included a science wing, an athletics building and other renovations.

The new science wing was touted as helping bring the school into step with modern technology, something the district is under pressure to do.

“When you see the science labs, it’s pretty troubling,” Golden said.

The renovation and expansion of the high school is necessary to satisfy the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the group that grants accreditation to New England high schools. The NEASC has determined the school’s science laboratories to be sub-standard.

A five-year review was recently sent to NEASC addressing its concerns and recommendations with the school and identifying progress that has been made.

“Recommendations become condemnations after a while,” Golden said, “so we don’t want that to happen to our high school.”