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Board of Education asks planning board to keep $7.4 million in capital requests for school safety, roofs and athletic fields
Summary
The Board of Education presented a $7.4 million capital request that includes school security vestibules, short-term security investments, weatherproofing work (Strawberry Hill phase A) and synthetic turf replacements. Officials warned that proposed reductions could delay critical field replacements and leave schools with insufficient playing surfaces during construction.
The Stamford Board of Education asked the Planning Board on Jan. 7 to preserve most of its capital request, saying cuts would slow critical safety and facility work and could make it impossible to replace worn athletic fields in a timely way. Catherine LaBalbo, speaking for the district, said, "This year, the request is for a, $7,400,000," and described two security requests: a $500,000 physical-infrastructure item (vestibules) recommended by the Connecticut School Safety and Security Council and a separate short-term security account for targeted deterrents and detection.
LaBalbo told the board that planned weatherproofing at Strawberry Hill is phased and that a reduction would allow phase A work (masonry and water-infiltration repairs) to continue but push slate-roof replacement into a later phase. On athletic fields, LaBalbo and district staff warned that prior bids for two replacement fields exceeded the reduced allocations under consideration: "Leoni Park was 783,000. West Beach was 1,000,000," she said, and noted combined bids totaled about $1.868 million. The district expressed concern that a reduction from $1.5 million to $750,000 would likely prevent the city from being able to replace any of the bid fields promptly.
Athletic directors who joined the hearing emphasized demand and safety. One athletic director said Boyle Stadium's turf "is 17 years old" and is heavily used by school teams and youth leagues; another, identified as West Hill athletic director Cerrone, described front-campus turf that he said is 15–16 years old and warned that school construction will leave only one usable field unless replacements occur.
The district also asked the board to consider the different funding streams at play: some short-term security work and HVAC phases have been funded through other sources such as ARPA, while longer-term capital and bond-funded projects remain in the planning board's draft budget.
The Planning Board did not take a final vote on individual line items at the hearing; members asked departments to supply updated bid and balance information so the board can determine where partial funding can still produce usable outcomes. The board will compile a recommendation for the mayor before the budget moves to the Board of Finance and Board of Representatives.
