The views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors of this newspaper. We welcome supporting or opposing views on any published item. Received April 13, 2025.
By Philip R. Devlin
(April 14, 2025) — Yes, it’s true that our district’s high school is fifty years old. There is no need, however, to think that building a new high school is warranted. Yes, the proposed plan wisely keeps the recently renovated auditorium and field house as well as the pool, but just about everything else would be demolished, including the entire junior high building.
In September of 2018, the district’s towns approved a $10 million bond for needed facility improvements: a new roof, a new boiler, a new field house floor, and renovation of the auditorium. At that point the school’s roof and boiler were forty-four years old, and anyone with any practical sense would realize that replacement of both was absolutely needed. Additionally, it should be noted that the Board wisely decided to include the purchase and installation of dozens of solar panels to accompany the roofing project.
It should be noted, however, that the current building proposal calls for the demolition of the existing facility that holds both the nearly new boiler and the numerous solar panels well before their “useful life” is finished. Because of the demolition of these recently installed items, our school district must reimburse the State of Connecticut two million dollars if this building proposal goes forward, a fact confirmed by the architectural team at the April 10, 2025 public forum about the new building proposal. I find this both wasteful and foolish. Incidentally, the bond payments for these recent improvements remain part of the annual school budget and won’t be retired until 2031!
District voters should be aware of recent financial trends for school construction and/or reconstruction in Connecticut. In the spring of 2023, voters in Cromwell were asked to approve money in a referendum to construct a new middle school. In January of 2024, the town was informed that the cost had increased by more than twenty million dollars! In an article in the Stamford Advocate last August entitled “A Runaway Train,” the public learned about skyrocketing costs associated with building the new West Hill High School in that city. Having just recently approved funding for $305 million in a referendum, the Stamford Board of Finance was outraged to be informed soon after that the cost had ballooned to $450 million! That works out to be an incredible $908 per square foot!
A similar story involving Regional School District 18–Lyme-Old Lyme-was reported in the CT Examiner last September. District 18 voters had just approved more than fifty-seven million dollars for various renovations, mainly involving their primary schools. Before costs were calculated for renovation to the Mile Creek Elementary School—the school that needed the most work— the project cost was already more than seven million dollars above the approved referendum figure! Do you see a pattern here?
Let’s keep in mind that about 60% of the aluminum this country uses comes from Canada, along with about 30% of our lumber and just over 20% of our steel. All of these items are now under a significant tariff, all will be needed in abundance for new construction, and all will be more expensive. The cost overruns for school construction detailed in the previous paragraphs were all pre-tariff. The current economic outlook for this country is at best uncertain. I cannot think of a time when constructing a building of any kind was riskier than it is now. (More thoughts on this topic will appear soon in Part Two).
