Efforts to construct a new Dwight Elementary School moved forward at the Fairfield Representative Town Meeting (RTM), where members voted unanimously to approve $76.4 million in bonding for the project. The plan includes a new Early Childhood Center.
“This is a large capital investment for our town, but it is a smart investment,” said First Selectman Christine Vitale. “Rather than putting millions of dollars into renovating an aging structure that was built to 50-year-old standards, we will be building for the future.”
The vote on Oct. 20 capped off months of work and study to determine what to do with the school on Redding Road. The Fairfield Board of Education hired Svigals + Partners, an architecture and art integration firm, to evaluate several ideas involving the elementary school, ranging from renovating the existing structure to constructing an entirely new building.
Calling it the “final step in a very long process,” Board of Education Chair Jeff Peterson said the vote is “the culmination of a very busy year that began with [the late] First Selectman Bill Gerber pushing for a multi-site feasibility study and also included in-depth discussions with Fairfield’s boards of selectmen and finance.”
“We thank the RTM for its strong support, though it also represents a pivot-point into a new multi-year effort, the design and actual construction of the building,” he said.
The town established the Dwight School Building Committee to plan, coordinate and supervise the location, siting, design, and construction of the new school.
“[The committee] is beginning its work, and the timely approval by Fairfield’s town boards means we can press ahead next month with applying for state reimbursement funding for the project,” Peterson said.
The board expects the project will qualify for about $15.7 million in reimbursement, he said.
Vitale, who first got involved in town government more than 20 years ago as a Dwight Parent-Teacher Association representative, said, “To have been able to help move this project through the approval process as First Selectman has been especially meaningful.”
Dwight Elementary School is currently the oldest of the town’s school buildings received a that has not undergone a comprehensive renovation.
In a statement, RTM Majority Leader Liz Zezima said, “We are proud to finally advance a long-overdue project that not only assures our students can learn in a clean and safe environment, with all the modern amenities of other schools, but to address the growing demand for Early Childhood Center educational curriculum.”
