Board Of Education Approves Step Toward New London High School Renovation

The Board of Education designated one of its committees to assist in the development of plans toward upgrading New London High School on Thursday.

The Board unanimously established the School Building and Maintenance Committee as the building committee for building a new high school or renovating it as new. Dr. Nicholas Fischer, superintendent of New London Public Schools, said this was a necessary step toward hiring an architect for this project and receiving $3 million in state grant funds.

John A. Mena, director of construction services at the Capitol Region Education Council, said in a Feb. 27 e-mail to district officials that CREC would develop a request for proposals for an architect once the Board of Education developed the vision and theme for programs at the high school. The Board is working to develop programs for the school under a strategy to transition the district to all magnet schools.

Mena said CREC will also begin looking into project costs and state reimbursements once enrollment estimates and program locations are determined. He said the goal is to have this process completed by July 1.

The question of whether to renovate the existing high school or construct a new building has been under consideration for several years. The options that have been put forth are addressing any code and Americans with Disabilities Act violations at the school, renovating as new to bring the buildings up to modern building codes, or demolishing the school and building a new one.

The school, which was built in 1970, suffers from a number of maintenance issues including inadequate climate control systems, an unusable swimming pool, issues with handicapped accessibility, and windows with poor seals and hinges.

The cost to address code and ADA issues only has been estimated at $29 million. The renovate as new and new building estimates are $83 million for the former and $83.9 million for the latter. State reimbursement for renovate as new is 78 percent while the reimbursement is 68 percent for new construction, but the district could receive the higher rate of reimbursement due to the comparable cost between the options.

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