Danbury School District reports summer facilities upgrades; AIS retaining wall under study

Danbury School staff presented a summary of summer facilities work and near-term projects during a board meeting; the report covered completed renovations (roofs, flooring, auditorium seating), accessibility work (an elevator at Hayestown), system upgrades (voice-over-IP phone conversion) and an ongoing engineering study of a slouching retaining wall at AIS that may require substantial funding.

The update was delivered by Mike, a Danbury School District staff member, who said the meeting had “a short agenda, but it’s 1 big item” and then walked trustees through photos and status updates for each site. Rich Jalbert, a district facilities staff member, joined the presentation to provide technical context on several projects.

Why it matters: many projects improved safety, accessibility or energy efficiency, and two larger items — the AIS retaining-wall repair and pending elevator equipment — remain incomplete and may need additional funding or vendor deliveries. The district used a mix of operating funds, its rental fund and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars for major items, and staff said follow-up engineering and budget work will determine next steps.

Completed and near-complete projects - Danbury High School: LED stadium-light replacement (ARPA-funded) and new auditorium seating (ARPA-funded), plus a science-wing refresh (C5) and other painting to unify the campus. Mike said the new LED lights are “more energy efficient” and staff expect better nighttime lighting. The auditorium ceiling medallion and lighting were replaced as part of the seating work. - Ellsworth: full roof replacement completed just before school began; Mike said crews removed the old roof and replaced damaged wood beneath it, rather than roofing over the old surface. - Hayestown: vestibule and classroom alterations to create exterior elevator access are finished; the elevator car and some electronics are still back-ordered. “We are still waiting on the car and some of the additional electronics that were back ordered,” Mike said; the interior work is complete and the area is boarded off pending installation. - Mill Ridge and King Street Intermediate (KSI): three ‘pods’ of flooring work are now complete (one pod per summer over three years). KSI also required abatement and a stage floor replacement with wood-look LVT. - Broadview Middle School: counseling-center carpet replaced with tile (operating budget). - Pembroke: new rubberized gym floor installed (a poured leveling compound followed by roll-on rubber surface). - AIS (retaining wall): phase 1 was completed to remove a heavy brick wall from the top of a concrete slope and install a temporary fence; cars remain prohibited in the adjacent parking row. Mike said the district is monitoring the wall and awaiting results of an engineering study that will determine the scope of phase 2. Public buildings staff estimated the repair could be “in excess of $1,000,000.” - Warehouse and records: the district installed a secure rolling-file cage in its warehouse (rented space at 43 Beaverbrook) to consolidate decades of records and free space at the new board office. - KSP playground: a new perimeter fence with double gates for equipment access was installed. - Website and administrative changes: the Danbury High School site was relaunched as the Academies of Danbury High School site; the district also completed a food-service provider change from Sodexo to Chartwells this summer.

Systems and safety work in progress - Voice-over-IP phone conversion: Rich Jalbert said roughly half the schools have been converted so far; phase 2 (two King Street sites, Great Plain and Morris Street) is nearly complete and phase 3 (the remaining schools) is scheduled to finish by June 30, 2026. Jalbert said the district will retain at least one or two copper phone lines per building for emergencies and has added a UPS backup at Pembroke because of poor cell coverage. - Communications redundancy: for schools with weak cell service the district is testing radios and adding antennas so walkie-talkies can communicate across campus in outages. - Air-quality testing: the district will continue mandated testing, completing 20% of buildings each year under the state requirement for the next five years; the work will be coordinated with the city.

Costs, funding and next steps - Funding sources named during the update included ARPA, the district operating budget and the rental fund. Mike said some projects (for example, the AIS retaining-wall remediation) will await both the engineering study and identification of funding before a scope and schedule can be finalized. He noted that phone conversion is expected to yield “a big cost saver” on monthly bills over time.

Board response and formal action Trustees praised the speed and scale of this summer’s work and thanked facilities staff for completing many projects in a tight schedule. The committee took no project approvals during the presentation; the only recorded formal action on the agenda was a procedural motion to adjourn, which was moved and seconded and the chair declared the meeting adjourned.

Looking ahead: staff said they will return with an education specification and timeline if the city’s King Street primary wall project moves forward, will complete the AIS engineering study and report on funding options this winter, and will continue phone conversion and emergency-communication testing through the 2025–26 school year.