Students of Stamford’s Westhill High School are now winding down for the school year, but a construction crew manning an excavator on school grounds is just beginning work on what is likely to be the largest school construction project in Connecticut’s history, according to city and state leaders.
Eleanor Michael, Deputy Commissioner for the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services, said the new Westhill High School will accommodate up to 2,458 students.
“The new school is expected to include nearly 100 classrooms, career pathway spaces, science labs, improved athletic facilities including a pool and fields and the infrastructure needs to support 21st century teaching and learning,” Michael said.
The school construction project, which will cost a total of approximately $446 million, is largely being supported by a state grant, covering 80% of the cost, according to Michael.
The new Westhill High School, city officials say, will include four STEM labs, specialized learning spaces, and a performing arts center.
Katherine LoBalbo, Stamford’s director of school construction, said the classrooms will be built with adaptability in mind for teachers.
“Some classrooms will have electrical reels that can come down from the ceiling so that there’s more flexibility for power so that they can configure those rooms as classes grow and develop,” LoBalbo said. “We don’t know what we don’t know, so we want to make sure that the teachers are ready for the decades to come.”
All classrooms will have wired and wireless internet connectivity, interactive whiteboards, and other amenities including rectangular tables most of which can be split into smaller tables for flexibility. The new school comes with another key benefit according to Matthew Quinones, director of operations for the city of Stamford.
“Westhill is not an isolated project,” Quinones said. “It's part of a coordinated citywide commitment to rebuilding our school infrastructure.”
A K-8 school will be built across the street to replace Roxbury Elementary School. A K-4 school will begin construction next year, near a 5-8 grade school also slated for construction. Quinones said the city has invested $80 million toward school enhancement projects.
The school construction projects represent a big change for students and Ruben Ponce, who has been a custodian at Westhill High School for 20 years. Ponce says the new and improved school building will help cut down on some of his laborious tasks.
“All the cables will be new; that’s important because we don’t have to knock down the walls to install them, since it will all be included for all the school’s tech needs,” Ponce said.
