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Serving the Town of Stamford, Connecticut
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"In an age of global warming and loss of biodiversity, it's hard to think of a more apt theme for a school than the environment," said school board president Richard Freedman.
The cost of building the 106,000 square-foot magnet school is roughly $58 million, although a grant from the State Department of Education will reimburse the city 95 percent of the cost.
Ground was broken for the six-to-six magnet school last fall. Plans for the school include 36 classrooms; eight pre-kindergarten classrooms, four kindergarten classrooms, and three classrooms per grade. The plans also include a tower topped by a windmill, intended to demonstrate wind power to the students of the environmental magnet school, but is meant as more than that:
The school, designed by Tai Soo Kim Partners in Hartford, is planned to serve 660 children in preschool through grade eight, will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The longer hours will allow parents who commute to jobs in Stamford from out of town to drop their children off before going to work in the morning, and pick them up after work at night.
With an environmental theme planned, close proximity to the Long Island Sound was one requirement in selecting a site for the magnet. All classes will be expected to have a connection with the environment and students will be provided an in depth understanding of nearby ecological areas.
The school will be state-funded and tuition-free, with options for early morning or afternoon classes. The additional hours, beyond a normal six and half hour school day, will cost extra for the parents but will allow them the chance to put in a full day of work before retrieving their children at school.
Mayor Dannel Malloy, also in attendance, called the project "thrilling and spectacular."
Last month Malloy stepped in and halted the board of education's redistricting effort, cutting $2.8 million from his capital budget for furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) for the Environmental Magnet School, a plan that could have effectively derailing the board of education's plans to open the new magnet school in September of 2009. Malloy said he hoped the cut would stimulate discussion, and cause the board to spend more time developing a comprehensive redistricting plan. He has said that such funding could be restored through a special appropriation if the school board does not close the wrong school.