Stonington looks to revive committee to recommend uses for three school buildings
Stonington — First Selectman Rob Simmons told the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday night that he would like to reactivate a long-defunct committee to make recommendations about how to use the School Administration Building, West Broad Street School and Pawcatuck Middle School.
The three buildings could be vacant or available for other uses when students from Pawcatuck Middle School are transferred in the fall of 2019 to Mystic Middle School and when the ongoing renovation and expansion of Deans Mill and West Vine Street schools is complete. The latter project will result in the closure of West Broad Street School.
School officials have said the school administration office, also known as the central office, then would move to Pawcatuck Middle School. That would leave the School Administration Building vacant.
The town cannot take action on the future of the buildings until the school board releases them back to the town.
“We have to be prepared for what is coming our way,” Simmons said.
Selectwoman Kate Rotella, who is a member of the K-12 School Building Committee, said the town will be ready but added it is early to begin discussing the future of the buildings.
The committee in question, the Permanent Committee to Study the Needs and Uses of Town Public Buildings, was formed in 2006 after a small group of residents opposed to a state-funded expansion of Town Hall successfully stopped that project.
The committee began looking at the needs of town buildings but it never produced any reports or recommendations and has been inactive since 2010. Two members still have active terms.
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