MONROE, Conn. — The Ad Hoc Facilities Committee determined reopening Chalk Hill as a school is an important step to meeting the long term space needs for Monroe’s students and Board of Education Chairman Dennis Condon wrote a letter to Town Council Chairman Jonathan Formichella, dated March 3, asking him to include the establishment of a building committee on the Council’s agenda for its next meeting on March 9.
But then progress seemed to grind to a halt and frustration has grown among many parents as the June deadline to apply for financial reimbursement from the state looms. A building committee is needed to file an application. Since the March 3 letter, four Town Council meetings went by with no formal action taken.
On Thursday, First Selectman Terry Rooney told The Sun it will be on the agenda for the May 11 meeting. However, rather than a school building committee, he wants to establish a municipal building committee with the broader charge of working on a long-term plan for Monroe’s municipal buildings and “potential school construction.”
“The municipal building committee I suggested has a very important role moving forward,” he said in a statement. “As many buildings townwide are in need of repair, we need to organize a comprehensive plan to address these concerns. As we have always supported education structural needs whenever requested, we also understand the need for an organizational chart and a five, 10 and 20 year plan on all our municipal buildings and potential school construction.”
“The municipal building committee, made of the most knowledgeable people willing to volunteer their time, will help accomplish the long term needs in Monroe,” Rooney said. “This committee, which is currently being formed and presented on the May 11th Town Council meeting, is needed for grant applications by June 1st for specific roof construction projects.”
“We need to watch trends such as flat enrollment currently revealed in the most recent demographic study, birth rates and relocations out of Monroe for a host of reasons,” Rooney continued. “This office will work closely with those in leadership roles, such as the superintendent, Board of Education and DPW, to supply the municipal building committee with the information and tools it needs to make responsible decisions for our taxpayers.”
Marie Blake, a retired teacher who ran for the Board of Education last election, had questioned the timing of the submission of the Board of Education letter requesting a building committee and why nothing had happened since. She has spoken at a school board meeting and had asked about it again at the Town Council’s meeting on April 20, saying the dates are not adding up.
Rooney responded to her from the dais.
“Ma’am, I understand your concern and I’m going to give you the history of that letter,” he said. “I was told that a letter was dropped off at my office. I looked for that letter. I could not find it, at which point I reached out to [Superintendent] Joe Kobza for that letter to be emailed. At that point, I told Joe Kobza, ‘from this point forward, when a letter comes to my office, because this is the second time the Board of Education did this to me, it needs to be stamped at the Town Clerk’s Office or it needs to be sent via email. Immediately, Mr. Kobza sent the email that morning and that is the day I got it on the Council.”
The first selectman assured her it would be on the Town Council’s May 11 agenda.
When asked about the letter, Condon told The Sun, “I presented Terry with the letter after our board meeting when Joe [Kobza] gave me the letter. That letter got lost because it wasn’t processed appropriately, which is my fault. I came back from vacation and it was not on the Town Council agenda.”
Condon said he asked Town Council Chairman Jonathan Formachella about it and he asked for an electronic copy, so Condon emailed him the letter.
“They had it several meetings, but it hasn’t come up formally on the agenda of the Town Council,” Condon said. “I’m thrilled that it’s finally going to be on the agenda. We need a building committee for multiple reasons. To get any grant money, by statute, we need a building committee.”
“We have to come up with a fix. We being the Board of Education,” Condon said. “I appreciate the hard work that the committee did over the past two years analyzing the demographics and change in population. Their solution was to open Chalk Hill. That’s still an option, but the demographics have changed, making it less of a crisis, but there is still an acute need to fulfill the demand to fit students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades so they can receive an appropriate education.”
Chalk Hill was closed as a Monroe middle school in June of 2011, before being used by Sandy Hook Elementary School from 2013 to 2016 after the tragic school shooting in Newtown. It has not been used as a school since.
The Ad Hoc Committee was informed that, currently, there is no other town-owned land suitable to build a new school. With that, it was determined that reopening Chalk Hill as a school is the most viable option to provide for Monroe’s future educational needs.
Jerry Stevens, who was recently named chairman of the Ad Hoc Facilities Committee, expressed encouragement that the Town Council is expected to take formal action on the formation of a building committee on May 11.
“I’d like to thank the residents of Monroe, town officials, Superintendent Joseph Kobza and his administrative team, who have served on the Ad Hoc Committee for 14 months,” said Stevens. “It’s with cautious optimism that I look forward to seeing the formation of the school building committee on the Town Council’s May 11th agenda. The Board of Education and the Ad Hoc Committee invested countless hours on our capital project list. Many of our board members have actually toured the buildings and know what kind of shape they are in.”
All respectful comments with the commenter’s first and last name are welcome.
It’s promising to see some movement on this front, although the building committee proposed rather than the committee focusing exclusively on the schools has a very different set of priorities and likely timelines.
Perhaps Mr. Rooney could clarify who is being considered for this new committee, how people who are interested could throw their hat in the ring, what eligibility requirements you’re anticipating, if these are elected or appointed participants, and so forth so that we better understand what you’re thinking and the town members can determine holistically if this proposal is likely to best support us.
The one question that jumps out at me is that the statement about enrollment flatlining, while true nationally due to birth rates, overlooks the fact that Monroe Planning & Zoning has signed off on not one but three major developments in this community that will flood our school system, and more than compensate for the lower birth rates.