Open letter to members of the Board of Estimate & Taxation and Representative Town Meeting, October 17, 2023
The undersigned Parent Teacher Association Boards of Directors serve as the voice of thousands of dedicated parents, teachers, and, most importantly, students throughout the Town of Greenwich. We are advocates for the best interests of our students and the quality of their education.
We write this evening to urge the Board of Estimate & Taxation to immediately call a special meeting to approve the interim funding requests submitted by the Board of Education and the Central Middle School (CMS) Building Committee to fully fund the CMS building replacement. The CMS building project just two hours ago cleared the administrative hurdle of obtaining municipal improvement approval with a unanimous vote of the Planning and Zoning Commission, and there is no legitimate reason to wait any longer to fully fund a new CMS.
We understand the financial considerations that must be weighed when making tough decisions about what projects to fund, and that there are many schools in Greenwich that require significant capital investment. Prior failure to adequately fund our school infrastructure, however, is not an excuse for delaying replacing a decaying building. FULLY FUNDING a new CMS now is the only fiscally responsible decision. Delaying the project any further is estimated by highly qualified experts in the school construction field to cost Greenwich more than $365,000 per month. A year-long delay is projected to cost the town more than $4,300,000.
CMS is in dire need of replacement, with numerous structural and functional issues that have persisted for far too long. Yet the BET chose to knowingly underfund the CMS project last spring, needlessly delaying construction. All the while the clock continues to run on the five-year engineering fixes that allowed students to return to the building deemed “unsafe for human occupancy” in February 2022. The current best-case scenario is the completion of a new CMS in time for the 2026-2027 academic year. That means that many of the 8th graders who were displaced in February 2022 will be entering their freshman year of college and those 6th graders who were displaced will be starting their junior year of high school. Today’s 3rd graders would be entering their first year in middle school. This is unacceptable to our parents and students, and should be unacceptable to you, our elected representatives.
Even this delayed timeline will be impossible to achieve if you do not act now. It is within your power, as was done for past school building projects, to call a special BET meeting to approve the interim funding requests and for the RTM to approve fully funding CMS at its October 23 meeting.
If you fail to fully fund CMS now, and instead sentence the project to next year’s fiscal budget cycle, your inaction will be the sole cause of further delaying this project.
The time for political gamesmanship is over. The time for mispresenting the size and budget for the project is over. The time for putting students in the middle of adult squabbles is over. The Board of Education has considered, debated, approved, reconsidered, and reapproved the Educational Specifications that drive the design of the building. The CMS Building Committee considered eight different building design options and nine different options for siting the building. The budget is based upon real independent cost estimates derived from actual design documents, reflects estimates
for work performed in our town specifically, and has already been subject to rigorous value engineering. This project has even now met the never-before-enforced requirement of achieving Municipal Improvement approval prior to securing funding. It is not the place for the BET to try to substitute its judgment for that of the BOE and CMSBC by refusing to adequately fund the project.
There is nothing left other than for the BET and RTM to fully fund this project.
By fully funding this project, you will take a significant step toward ensuring that our children receive the education they deserve in a safe, supportive, and nurturing environment. It is a smart investment in the long-term sustainability and growth of Greenwich. By supporting the building of a state-of-the-art educational facility, you will enhance the value of our community, attract families and businesses, and contribute to the overall vitality of Greenwich.
BET, please immediately call a meeting and approve the requests for interim funding.
RTM, please fully approve this funding at your October 23 meeting and allow this critically necessary project to finally move forward.
Sincerely,
Dina Urso and Matthew Kane, Co-Presidents on Behalf of Central Middle School PTA Board of Directors
John Fisher, President on Behalf of Greenwich PTAC Board of Directors
Beth Caton and Lindsey Shamsoian, Co-Presidents on Behalf of Cos Cob School PTA Board of Directors
Tiffany Rivera, Co-President on Behalf of Members of the Julian Curtiss PTA Board of Directors
Thomas Casazzone and Emily Hulce, Co-Presidents on Behalf of North Street School PTA Board of Directors
Lauren Rockliff and Carey Gianetti, Co-Presidents on Behalf of Parkway School PTA Board of Directors