Board Meeting Highlight: Willard Expansion/Renovation

At the Board of Ed meeting on 9/22, Angelo DeSimone gave a presentation of the proposed Willard renovation/expansion on behalf of the Facilities Committee. Basically, the proposal for Willard addresses four main issues:
1) Extremely small existing classrooms in the 1926 portion of the building. (Some of the classrooms are approx. 600 sq. ft (or less!), compared to the 850 sq. ft. recommended by the state). Students at Willard are squeezed into too-small classrooms.
2) The need for small group instruction space, primarily for special education. This is a district-wide issue. In addition to needs for SGI, OT/PT, etc., we would like to find a permanent home for our growing PARRCA program, which services our district’s autistic children. In recent years, PARRCA has moved among different elementary school locations, which is disruptive for everyone concerned.
3) Undersized library – approx. half the size recommended by the state
4) Need for storage, especially for the lunch chairs & tables, which are kept in the auditorium during PE classes. Not the safest solution, but there currently is nowhere else to put them.

The plan presented Monday night adds a second floor above the current 1st and 2nd grade classroom wing. This will hold five new classrooms, a new (larger) media center/library, and computer lab. An elevator would be added for accessibility. The current older/smaller classrooms would be converted for small-group instruction and self-contained classrooms for PARRCA (plus storage space adjacent to the auditorium). The existing library would become two new classrooms.

These plans will be presented again at the Willard HSA meeting on October 20 at 1:30. I hope you will attend if you’d like to get more details or ask questions.

One more note, which Sheila Brogan mentioned at Monday’s meeting: if it seems like the Board is moving quickly, it’s because the state has specific deadlines by which we must submit plans in order to apply for grant money and/or debt service aid. We are carefully working, school by school, to meet those deadlines. Prior to any referendum vote, we will have more detailed plans, with side elevations, etc., to illustrate what any additions, such as Willard’s, will look like. Right now we are focusing on floor layouts, classroom counts, etc.