To the Editor:
I could not sit idly by and have the Board of Education (BOE) suggest all “due diligence” was not done on various people’s part prior to the approval of the $56 million renovation of Stratford High School.
Sitting on the Building Needs Committee, the committee that approved renovations and sought renovations originally, I can tell you the committee did its due diligence with the information given to us at the time, in my opinion.
After almost three years of planning, choosing an architect, conducting a CREC study, and spending lots of money, now, the BOE, is having second thoughts of moving forward with a much needed project? Perhaps this is could be a stall tactic to scuttle the project, some people may ask? I am going to reserve final judgment, until I see what transpires from the BOE’s study on the matter.
What I will say is, I believe the members of the Building Needs Committee, at the time, did their due diligence. We were told there wasn’t any open space to put the new school on and some grandiose plans to move schools around like musical chairs, was not going to fly.
It would cost $100 million or more to build a new high school. I would remind the BOE it is not up to them to have final say over what happens to Stratford High; it is the Town Council.
I would strongly encourage the BOE to stop wasting time studying things and we all move forward with the Stratford High School project before we miss out on the State funding opportunity. This in turn will cost the taxpayers even more money. Since the people I represent want results with Stratford High, I am strongly urging that this project move forward.
Many people worked too hard to get this project this far, and we are not going to start from square one and waste people’s time and taxpayers’ money. The end result will still be Stratford High is left not getting done, which will not be tolerated.
Jason Santi
Town Council
Building Needs
Committee member,
BOE Liaison Member