BET Approves Funding For North Mianus School Repairs

GREENWICH, CT — The Board of Estimate and Taxation on Monday night unanimously approved about a $2.6 million interim appropriation for repair work related to February's ceiling collapse and flood damage at North Mianus School. The item now goes to the Representative Town Meeting for final discussion and possible approval during a special meeting on Thursday night.

Several grades have been displaced because of the ceiling collapse and flood damage, as some students have been attending school in other buildings throughout the District since February.

Repair work is expected to stretch into the fall. To that end, included in the funds approved on Monday is money for outside facility rentals at $170,000 per month from August to December. Money is also allotted for transportation of students to these facilities while repair work is ongoing, and moving, storage and staffing costs. In total, alternate-space related costs total $1.7 million.

According to the Greenwich Time, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Toni Jones said the District is still in the process of coming up with a specific relocation plan for the fall. To read more from the Greenwich Time, click here.

The North Mianus School ceiling collapse has been a hot-button issue in the community over the past few months. In April, the Board of Education had requested $8.1 million for emergency repair work.

BET Democrats, school officials, and the North Mianus School community had called for the approval of the full $8.1 million request, because they said that without all of the funds, the project could be further delayed into the fall and winter. At the time, Jones asked the BET to fully approve and place conditions on a portion of the money because she wanted to get students back in NMS classrooms as quickly as possible.

However, the BET ended up just approving a portion of that request - $2 million - for the first round of repair work. A motion brought forth by Democrat Miriam Kreuzer to raise the appropriation to $8.1 million failed at 6-6 along party lines. While the full BET expressed support for the project in April, BET Republicans said they wanted to follow process and learn more about the scope and cost.

Coupled with Monday's approval, a total of about $4.6 million has been allocated for the repair work.