Nearly Half of Naugatuck Schools Have Roof Issues

The roofs on five Naugatuck public schools are in need of either extensive repairs or should be replaced entirely, a school official said Tuesday.

The schools on the list are Hillside Intermediate School, City Hill Middle School, as well as Maple Hill, Western and Prospect elementary schools, said Mike Lynch, facilities superintendent for the Naugatuck Public School District, during an update meeting with the Board of Education’s Facility Subcommittee.

Lynch also told the committee that some roof repairs at Andrew Avenue and Central Avenue elementary schools have recently completed.

Capital projects like these will likely be a focus for the school district in the coming years as Naugatuck looks to make long-term changes to its educational facilities. , made up of both borough and educational officials, have been working since Fall 2010 on the issue.

The committee was responsible for that eventually went into the $81 million Naugatuck High School renovation plan.

But the overarching goal of the committee is to look at the future of all borough schools. So far, that would overhaul the district’s current school format, with concepts like elementary and middle schools sharing campus grounds.

As for the roof repairs, the facility committee said they will be prioritized based on which schools will likely stay open in the next several years. Lynch and Scully both noted that Maple Hill School, which as built in 1989, is the first school on the list to be repaired, simply because it’s the newest school.

“We don’t want to fix (a school) if it ends up being closed,” said board member Glenn Connan. Connan was taking into account the long-term committee’s proposals of closing certain schools that are structurally outdated, such as Western and Prospect Street schools.

As for the Maple Hill roof, borough Controller Wayne McAllister said a request for qualifications will likely be posted for the job in January. McAllister, who doubles as the education board’s business manager, said the hope would be to have a company ready for the roof job by the time spring breaks in March or April.