Board of Directors Table $20 Million Cheney/Bennet School Referendum

The Manchester Board of Directors have decided to delay a $20.265 million project to combine Elisabeth M. Bennet Academy with the neighboring Cheney building to form a public fifth/sixth grade academy in towm.

Directors made the decision at a Tuesday morning policy meeting because a number of questions about the project and its impact on the Manchester community still remained. 

"It won't be on the ballot in November," Director of Administrative Services Dede Moore said. "At this point they're looking at an April (of next year) referendum." 

The final price tag for the school project is about $17.4 million, but the final bond of $20.265 million also includes $1.5 million for district wide school safety and security upgrades and an additional $1.3 million to finance design work on one of two plans to upgrade either Washington or Roberston elementary schools. The total cost to the town would only be slightly over $7 million, however, due to anticipated reimbursements from the state. 

But the new joint academy would likely lead to the closing of two elementary schools in town and some form of redistricting, Interim Superintendent Richard Kisiel told the Board of Directors and the Board of Education during a special joint meeting in July.

"The feedback they've gotten is that people don't know enough about the details yet," General Manager Scott Shanley said. 

Moore said that the Board of Directors would likely have to hold another public hearing on the project before they could vote to approve it, which is not scheduled at this time. Directors held a public hearing on that project and a $10 million municipal referendum project earlier this month, but only voted to approve the $10 million in municipal bonding projects, which include road and sidewalk repairs, renovations to the historic Cheney Hall, upgrades at Charter Oak Park and half the funds to repair the Hartford Road bridge (with anticipated matching funding coming from the state). 

That project will appear on the ballot on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, and must be approved by voters before any repairs would take place.

Shanley said the goal now is to hold a number of public hearings and information session on the project, with the goal of better informing the public about all the intricities of the project and its possible impact on the town's elementary schools. 

Kisiel told the Board of Education Monday that the district was in "reasonably good shape in terms of security issues," and that the projects funded through the $1.5 million were more "enhancements" to the district's existing security protocols than dire necessities. 

Shanley said the Board of Directors has also agreed to "loan" the school system $200,000 to carry out some of those enhancements in advance of the anticipated referendum to approve them.