What Will New London's Fourth Magnet School Theme Be?

New London is poised to become the first all-magnet school district in the state. For that to happen, however, the Board of Education has to make another big decision. What will be the theme of New London's next magnet school?

At this point, the district has transformed Nathan Hale into a visual and performing arts magnet school; Jennings Elementary School is a dual language intra-district magnet school for New London students only; two schools—the Science and Technology Magnet High School of Southeastern Connecticut and Winthrop Elementary Magnet School—are both STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) regional magnet schools. Yet there are plenty of options open for another magnet school to serve students in grades 9-12. 

Sensitive to criticism that the Board of Education has not, in the past, been as open as it might be to community input, the school district held a forum on Monday and took a survey (offered in both English and Spanish) to see which of the three proposed themes for a magnet school resonated with residents throughout the region. 

Of the 364 people who responded to the survey, 45 percent selected Leadership and Public Service as their first choice, 39 percent selected Sports Medicine, and 15 percent opted for Maritime Arts and Industry. Interestingly, the theme of Leadership and Public Service was initially proposed by teachers and staff from New London High School. 

Of the respondents, 16.48 percent were New London parents, 20.67 percent were community members, 24.58 percent were regional parents, 20.11 percent were teachers, and—representing the highest number of respondents—29.05 percent were students. 

About 30 people attended Monday's forum and, although organizers said they'd hoped for a higher turnout, many people in attendance had pertinent questions about the timeline, possible locations, potential partners, the budget and transparency of the budget and the project as it developed.

These questions were not unanticipated by school administrators and, although many can't be answered until the Board of Education decides on a theme, the budget is in place and the district does have a schedule in mind. 

The New London School District has a state grant for $3 million to renovate the high school as new to create the new magnet school that will be open to all students in grades 9 through 12. This is very unusual, said Special Master Steven Adamowski—who was appointed by the state Board of Education to supervise the school district—because normally these state grants require a school district to kick in 20 percent of the cost. In this case, however, the new magnet school will be wholly funded by the state, so it will cost city taxpayers nothing. 

The district can't tap that money, however, until the Board of Education makes a decision about the theme. Only then can the school district get to work preparing the educational specifications, which has to be done before a designer is hired.  

Once the educational specifications are complete, the district will put out a request for design proposals from architects. Adamowski said the goal is to do that by January 2014. The design process typically takes about nine months, he said, then there will be a bidding process to determine which company will handle construction.

To complete such a project from conception to completion normally takes about three years, Adamowski said, although the hope is that this transformation will take less time than that. As of right now, he said, both the public and the board seem to be leaning in the direction of creating a leadership and public service magnet school, but there has to be a vote to make that official 

"The big question is your decision on this," Adamowski told board members. "I would hope the Board would be ready to make a decision at the next meeting."  

The school district plans to hold another public forum following the board's vote.