The Ridgefield School Site Selection Committee met for the first time on Monday, January 5th in the town hall for a fast-paced meeting. Appointed by the Board of Selectmen, the Committee of 13 Ridgefielders voted Steve Zemo, former Selectmen and well-known Ridgefield real estate expert, as their chairperson. P&Z Commissioner Di Masters was selected as vice-chairman, and education activist Mary Miller as secretary. In the course of their first two hour session the team reviewed the charge (the "mission statement") they were assigned by the Selectmen. The Committee concluded their mission required the Committee to review every feasible location in town for at least one school, a lower middle school serving grades 5 and 6, and to consider sites for a potential new elementary school.
(Right, committee members Rebecca Mucchetti, Joseph Heyman, Gary Holland and Di Masters)
Mr. Zemo was asked by the Committee to seek clarification from the Board of Selectmen on the approximate size of the school being required, as the Board of Education "educational specification" is not yet finished. Nonetheless, for the discussions in this first meeting it was generally acknowledged that the site should accomodate a school building in the 80,000-120,000 square foot range, plus the associated parking, playing fields, etc.
The charge also featured a very short deadline for reporting back to the Board of Selectmen: January 23rd. The Committee agreed to meet every Monday and Thursday, and perhaps even more often, until the task was accomplished. This short deadline kept everyone on their toes and under Mr. Zemo's focussed leadership kept the agenda moving.
The Committee spent most of the meeting working on the criteria to be
used when selecting sites.
(Photo: Gary Smith, Paul Jaehnig (back to camera), Joe
Savino, Steve Zemo (head down) and John Scarbrough)
This entailed some lively discussion but resulted in a useful list of criteria. The most vitriolic debate was precipitated by John Scarbrough (Board of Finance) and amplified by Mike Jones. They felt that a major factor in selecting a site was the likely costs of construction ("site development"). The majority of the Committee disagreed and felt that the proper time to include that data is when the Selectmen and the Board of Finance revoiew the final contenders. Other criteria included:
A total of fourteen specific criteria were developed and will be circulated by Mr. Zemo at the next meeting. Also on tap for the next meeting will be a presentation from Joseph Heyman about utilizing current town buildings for new schools; from Mike Violante on the use of State-owned lands, and from Paul Jaehnig on the use of town-owned lands which are not currently schools.
The public is invited to attend these sessions which start at 7:30 every Monday and Thursday in the large conference room in the basement of the town hall.
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