Board of Directors Move $17.36 Million Cheney/Bennet Academy Toward Referendum

It is becoming increasingly more likely that voters will decide the fate of a $17.36 million plan to expand and combine the existing Elisabeth M. Bennet Academy with the neighboring Cheney Building to form a fifth/sixth grade academy for the town's public school students. 

The Board of Directors reviewed the final plans for the project as part of its July 8, 2013, meeting, and appeared in favor of the joint academy, which carries an estimated $17.36 million price tag, but the town would be eligible for reimbursement from the state for about $10 of the total costs. 

"I think this is an opportunity for the town to really put all of our students into a success mode," Director Cheri Pelletier said of the project. 

The plan would see the existing fifth grade Bennet Academy combined with the neighboring Cheney Building to create a new fifth/sixth grade campus, connected by a pedestrian bridge above School Street. Plans are also underway for a "like new" reconstruction of Roberston Elementary School and a newly constructed Washington Elementary School, but those have been placed on the backburner to focus on the Cheney/Bennet academy. 

General Manager Scott Shanley called the Cheney/Bennet academy the "critical" piece of the town's plans to improve its elementary schools, because if the project fails at the ballot box, the town would then have to plan for the reconstructed Roberston and the new Washington elementary schools to include room for fifth grade classrooms and activities. 

"If this doesn't happen first, then we're not in a position to do K-4 schools," Shanley said of the Cheney/Bennet academy. "Then we would have to design K-5 schools." 

A public hearing has to be held on the project before it can formally be approved by the Board of Directors, which would then place it on the ballot for a Nov. 5, 2013 referendum. 

Directors also appear poised to approve $11.725 million worth of municipal referendum projects - including road paving, park renovations and sidewalk repairs - which would bring the total price tag for referendum items the public would be asked to approve close to $30 million. 

TELL US: Are you in favor of the town spending money on this project?