'Unresolved Questions' at Center of Sandy Hook School Discussion

A task force assembled to determine the future home of Sandy Hook Elementary School may have left with more questions than answers after a five-hour meeting Friday night.

o -- the existing site and one just down the road at 28 Riverside. This week, they turned discussion to previously undiscussed or discounted options, including property on the Fairfield Hills campus and Reed Intermediate School.

"There's still a lot of unresolved questions here," said moderator Rich Harwood as the meeting concluded at about midnight.

The task force nominally ruled out the Fairfield Hills site, currently the home of the unused Cochran House, at their last meeting. Reed was not included in the presentation submitted by a team of building experts in April. Then both sites came up Friday, as task force members said they would like to see more information on whether they would be suitable candidates. Neither site was formally announced as a top candidate during the meeting.

"There's a group that have shared their concerns about not ever being able to go back to Sandy Hook," said Board of Education vice chair Laura Roche, one of several task force members who raised the issue of returning to discussion on Fairfield Hills. "To me, that's always going to be a site where 26 people were murdered."

Some task force members said they would like to see analysis of other sites on the campus aside from House. Planning and Land Use official George Benson said the site would essentially be "segregated," separated from the main campus and walled in, and that significant off-site modifications could be required.

"We'd have to basically build a wall around it," he said.

"From what I've heard tonight, any school built on Fairfield Hills would essentially be like a prison," said Legislative Council member Daniel Honan. "Walls all around it."

At the last meeting, some leaders mentioned Fairfield Hills may not be an ideal candidate because it is outside the district of Sandy Hook, and one element of the task force's guiding principles includes keeping the school close to the community. The matter came up again last night.

"A perception has been raised by some, and I think that perception is a perception -- I don't think it's a reality," said Board of Education chair Debbie Leidlein. "It does not fit necessarily within our guiding principles, and I feel the idea of why this is attractive to some is not a reality. I caution us as to how we look at this."

When the topic turned to Reed Intermediate School -- also outside the neighborhood -- opinions were similarly split.

"One of the problems I've been having is spending $40-60 million and then a year or two later, closing a school," said Legislative Council member Dan Weidemann, referring to the ongoing issue of declining enrollment. "We could make alterations to Reed to make it useful [as a] grammar school ... All of that could probably be achieved at a lot less."

Some task force members counseled that declining enrollment was not a certainty, and that projected numbers may actually show a "slight uptick." (Stay connected to Patch for more on the discussion over Reed Intermediate School.)

"You're Not Going to Make Everybody Happy"

Sandy Hook resident Gene Rosen, who drew fame for sheltering students after the shooting, went around the table in the conference room shaking some board members' hands after finishing an emotional speech in which he thanked them for their work.

"What I heard in the questions and comments was the agony of this process," he said. "It is agonizing. And there are brilliant people here. And it is damn agonizing. I don't know the answer. I have no great wisdom."

To a person, the task force admitted the impossibility of satisfying everyone. A packed crowd filled the boardroom at the Newtown Municipal Center, including parents of Sandy Hook children and many news outlets. Before the meeting began, groups of parents gathered in the hallway as the task force discussed issues in a closed session. As the clock moved toward midnight in the nearly five-hour meeting, they had their say. Some said they were confused by what they'd heard.

"I walked in tonight thinking this meeting was going to be different," said resident Janet Ziperstein, whose second grader attends Sandy Hook School. "Two weeks ago, [Fairfield Hills] was pretty much taken off the board because it's not in Sandy Hook ... Now you're talking about taking Reed, which is an intermediate school, and turning it into an elementary school."

"Coming to this meeting today was very frustrating," said Christine Wilford of Sandy Hook. "My understanding from the last meeting was it was down to two options. Then today, I heard the teachers were coming tonight to take a stand and say they won't come back to anywhere in Sandy Hook. We asked the question, 'What do our staff want? What do the families of our angels want?' And every time we were told, well, opinions vary."

Wilford said she wanted to keep her children in Sandy Hook, "now more than ever."

"I'm hearing about Fairfield Hills and that there would need to be a wall or a fence built around it," she said. "I don't want my children to feel like they're in prison either."

Among the speakers was Brian Engel, whose daughter Olivia was one of the young victims of the shooting. He urged the task force not to go with a simple renovation of the school, one of the top options on the table.

"Our family has not asked for anything except for one thing: that the building be razed," he said.

Officials began discussion on the school's future about a month after the shooting, hosting public town hall meetings at Newtown High School to solicit residents' opinions. Residents have been highly split on returning to the school, and the divide manifested itself again Friday night.

"Everybody is going to feel differently, and you're not going to make everybody happy," said resident Marykay Wishneski.

"A Difficult Decision"

First Selectman Pat Llodra said the state legislature has been asked to create a special act allowing the town to get the project in late to state school authorities. But the legislation must be passed before the state congressional session ends in June.

"I'm not sure they'll open that list once we get past the deadline," she said.

When the task force has reached a decision, it will take a vote, according to Llodra. The Board of Education will have voting power on the final design, with the town's Building and Site Committee serving as the committee for the school's construction/renovation.

"I'm at the point where I'm very much conflicted. I want to do what's right for both [Sandy Hook and Newtown] communities, and if that means we can't make that decision now, that's the direction we should go," said Legislative Council member George Ferguson. "But if we don't do it now, it might be something we're not in a position to ever do."

Selectman Jim Gaston said the constituents who'd gotten in touch with him seemed to be split about evenly.

"One third want a different spot," he said, "One third want it on that field but a new building -- and one third want renovations.

"It creates a difficult decision. But you have to make the decision."

The task force will continue the discussion next Friday night at the Newtown Municipal Center.

Stay connected to Patch for follow-ups to this ongoing story.