Prior to that first Census of Children...
The State of Connecticut estimate
for children under five years of age in Weston was, if memory serves, somewhere
in the range of 475 little persons. This was considered a big number
at that time. A prior addition to Hurlbutt just completed was totally
occupied in the space of time of one school year! (NOTE: The
Board of Education had reduced that proposed addition from 8 rooms to 4
rooms--this was the period of time when Weston was ahead of its neighbors,
having antitcipated the need for elementary capacity before other systems.)
No overall Plan...
But where was our plan--long range
or even short range? At this time, "About Town" conducted a "Census
of Children '95" in behalf of the then Board of Selectmen. The Hurlbutt
P.T.O. (and other P.T.O.'s, too) sent out the same census forms to their
constituencies, and together, the Town and the School community, without
double-counting anybody, arrived at a number of children under the age
of 5 years living in Weston in the summer of 1995--that number was 808.
Remember that, as noted above, offcial demographers were estimating the
same cohort to total only 475. Another similarly conducted census
in 1997 showed only a slight downturn in the numbers of children alive
and well and living in Weston--just two years later. Only at this
point did anyone truly recognize that a tidalwave of children was approaching
the Weston School System. The Board of Selectmen acted. They
called upon the architect-planner of the second Hurlbutt expansion to propose
a solution (Phase One of a multiphase plan to expand by adding on to existing
buildings and convert the bus garage to the Board of Education headquarters).
The big meeting in Weston Middle
School...
An overflow and noisy crowd rejected
the quickly developed plan. To find a new architect-planner and develop
a new plan was the desire of the Board of Education and the next project.
The community was divided about how to approach the impending innundation
of the schools--should we build a new high school somewhere and convert
the older buildings on School Road to lower grades...or should we build
a "3-4-5 school" on campus and fill in wetlands, overcrowd the center of
Town...or should we do nothing and wait for the storm to subside naturally?
And there were more scenarios to pick from, further fragmenting the population.
Back to the drawing boards with a new planner...and a new census.
After the new planner (O,R&L) proposed what the Town and School Board wanted to hear--that we could makes changes to school policy, rework roads and fields and manage to maintain excellance...the other shoe dropped--or was it shoes, plural? First, the estimated for this reworking of our school system was estimated to cost $70,000,000, and second, we would probably need sewers in order to accomodate the density of new construction and pavement. (NOTE: This is my interpretation of the proposal--a more than standing-room only in the high school auditorium voiced its displeasure with the idea for sewers.)
To be continued...HERE