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 September 21, 2026.
The Renovate-as-New project for the High School is a rare, very good financial deal. The state grant is more generous than what is typically provided, and it goes away if we don’t pass this vote on Thursday, September 24, 2026. If we don’t renovate and choose to do the necessary repairs in a piecemeal fashion instead, it will still require costly expenditures, and we won’t get a more energy-efficient envelope and will continue to waste money on heating and cooling going forward.
We won’t get an ADA compliant and safe building that’s up to standards to minimize harm/school shootings. We don’t get a correction of traffic flow or improved parking. Who knows when track and field will be repaired (a big job)? We would probably lose our current excellent bond standing and we will lose families who will choose to move into another town that does offer secure, excellent education and sports facilities. We are threatened with losing accreditation if we don’t bring several things up to standards. In the worst-case scenario, the high school would be closed. Before that the value of the diploma would be questioned by colleges and employers. Let’s do the job right!
Kate Wessling, Higganum
The CGA (Connecticut General Assembly) website is a place to go where legislators can request background information from researchers in the Office for Legislative Research (OLR) to fill them in on various issues. OLR researchers are charged with being objective and non-partisan. The results are available to the public. Imagine, for example, that there is a legislator who wants to know about school accreditation. That legislator may submit a question to the OLR and get answers. Below is an example centered around the NEASC and accreditation with direct quotes and attribution.
“While several schools have faced warnings or been placed on probation over the decades (such as Hartford Public High School in 1997, which ultimately avoided losing its accredited status), the NEASC and the Connecticut General Assembly confirm that no operational public high school in the state has actually been stripped of its accreditation. Accreditation membership is voluntary for public schools in Connecticut, and none have had their status terminated.”
NEASC ACCREDITATION By: Hendrik DeBoer, Research Fellow for Connecticut General Assembly) Published April 9, 2012. You asked a series of questions regarding New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) accreditation. They are restated and answered below.
IS NEASC ACCREDITATION STATE OR FEDERALLY MANDATED? Neither state nor federal law mandates that schools be accredited by NEASC or any other accrediting agency. State law does require that the board of education for any public school that is NEASC-accredited disclose the accreditation reports to the public (C.G.S. § 10-239j).
HOW MANY HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT HAVE LOST THEIR NEASC ACCREDITATION? Although some schools have been placed on probation, no high schools, other than those which have closed, have lost their NEASC accreditation in Connecticut within the last 20 years, according to the NEASC.
I happen to know more than a little bit about this issue as I participated in the first 3 NEASC accreditation reviews in 1980, 1990, and 2000; in fact, in both 1990 and 2000 the superintendent and building principal appointed me to be the chairman of the entire accreditation process for HKHS.
Additionally, while it’s true that the district has a waiver for state funding for this proposal, the way it is being pitched makes it sound as though this is the only time we could possibly get a waiver. Is there a law limiting the number of times that a school district can get a waiver? There is not. Once again the OLR answer: “Connecticut Office of Legislative Research (OLR) reports and underlying state statutes do not place a flat numerical limit on the total number of administrative or funding waivers a school district can request or obtain from the state.”
It’s true that there is a big need for updates in the building, especially for the HVAC system, and those should be addressed soon. Are there less costly alternatives for people in the district who may be squeezed by the big cost that a nearly $152 million proposal like this brings with it? There certainly are. Haddam people need to know the truth about some of these issues to make intelligent choices for them and their families in a time where affordability is a big concern. So let’s get the facts straight about the NEASC accreditation issue and the number of times a district can apply for a waiver and not be fear driven by those issues.
Adding to Phil Devlin’s points, one more correction: the bond rating. Moody’s put the district’s Aa3 rating under review on June 30, 2026, for lack of sufficient information, before the board even called this vote. The district’s 2025 audit still hasn’t been filed with the state, and the annual financial report it owes its 2019 bondholders every February 28 hasn’t been posted this year. The risk to our rating is already here. It comes from information the district hasn’t provided, not from how we vote Thursday.