School committee discusses closing buildings

WINSTED — The town’s School Building Committee met at Hinsdale School on Thursday, Jan. 6, to begin preliminary discussions on closing one of the school district’s buildings.

Before the start of the 2011-12 school year, the committee is expected to close one of the three town-owned school buildings: Hinsdale School, Batcheller School or Pearson School.

The closure is due to the Board of Education’s decision to move the town’s seventh- and eighth-graders to the semi-private high school, The Gilbert School.

During the meeting, the committee discussed how the district should go about determining which building to close and also toured the Hinsdale School building.

Committee chairman Joseph Beadle said that he hopes to gather as much information about all three buildings as possible before any decision is made.

“We need to come up with a strategy and how to tackle it,� Beadle said. “What I hope we can do is to get as much information as possible about the work that has previously been done at these buildings. Not just mopping the floors and fixing the faucets, but major repairs, including the things in each school that still need to be upgraded.�

Board of Education members Paul O’Meara, Raymond Neal and Kathleen O’Brien were present at the meeting.

“This is not a cut and dried issue,� O’Meara said. “We need to get the numbers to see how much it would cost to get each school where it needs to be and what will be the most cost-effective long-term plan would be.�

Before the meeting, Beadle e-mailed members of the board an evaluation of Hinsdale School conducted in 2006 by O’Riordan Migani Architects of Seymour.

In the report, the architects propose a plan that would bring Hinsdale School to current building and fire codes.

The plan includes asbestos abatement, a new elevator car and tower and upgrades to the entire building.

If all of the improvements in the report were undertaken by the town, the company estimates that it would cost $5,941,314.

“I do disagree with some of the things that they said in the report,� Beadle said. “The building code is not a retroactive code. If the building code changes we don’t have to take a building and bring it up to present day code as long as its not an immediate danger to life and health or making someone sick. If it’s in good working order, there is no reason to bring it up to [building code] standards. The fire code, on the other hand, is a retroactive code. As that code changes, it requires that we make changes that are acceptable.�

Because of which, Beadle said he will be talking with the town’s fire marshall, William Baldwin, to discuss current fire code issues with the three buildings.

There were no decisions made at the meeting.

However, before the meeting ended, O’Brien told the committee that she could not see the Board of Education closing Pearson School.

“I don’t think the town would be in favor of closing Pearson,� O’Brien said. “The town uses [the gym] for basketball and things like that, so I can’t see it closing.�