Carter Presents Proposed South Windsor Elementary Schools Plan

Superintendent Kate Carter unveiled her recommended elementary school facilities plan at a special meeting of the Board of Education Tuesday night and the details are similar to those forecast by Jan Snyder a month ago.

The 10-year plan calls for three phases, each with its own referendum, to fix or replace South Windsor’s elementary schools. Carter said this approach differs from previous attempts to address the town’s aging schools that ended in failed referenda in 2004 and 2008. 

Carter’s plan calls for closing the Wapping School due to decreasing student enrollment and giving the building over to the town for its use at the end of the first phase. Students who currently attend Wapping School would be redistricted and divided among the other four elementary schools.

Wapping’s location, bordered by each of the other schools’ districts, is one reason the school is the obvious choice to be closed. Because it’s central, students would not have to take long bus rides to get to their new school.

Carter noted that the previous schools plans also called for closing Wapping School. 

In the first phase, the town would construct a new pre-K through 5th grade school on the Orchard Hill Site. The original school would serve as swing space, Carter said, meaning that students of other schools can attend there while their school is being renovated or rebuilt.

The second phase would address two schools: Eli Terry and Philip R Smith. 

Eli Terry would be razed, Carter said, and replaced by ball fields while a new K through 5 school would be built on site. The students who attend Eli Terry currently would remain in that school while the new school is being built.

Philip R Smith would be completely renovated while those students attend Orchard Hill. 

Phase three would include completely renovating Pleasant Valley School while those students attend Orchard Hill. When renovations are complete, the Town Council would decide if the building should be razed, Carter said.

State grants could reduce the total cost to $21 million for South Windsor to bond.

Tuesday's meeting was the first of three meetings - one per week in October - on the topic of the elementary school facilities plan. Next Tuesday, Oct. 22, the board will hear from Friar Associations, who did a feasibility study and will speak on the current condition of the district's school buildings and how costs are estimated.

The following week the board is expected to vote on the project.