Wallingford presents new timeline, hopes to open new consolidated high school in fall 2032
The Wallingford School District says it hopes to see a new high school open in about six years. That’s according to a new timeline that the district provided to the Town Council on Wednesday night during a town budget workshop meeting.
The proposal would combine the town’s two high schools, Lyman Hall and Sheehan.
During the presentation, the school district laid out the timeline for the one high school plan. They hope if everything goes to plan with studies and votes, construction could begin in 2029, with the campus open to students in the fall of 2032. The Town Council will need to vote to move forward with funding, and if that happens, it will then go to the voters.
This has been a long time coming. The Board of Education voted in 2023 to build a brand-new high school at a new site. The district has said in the past it would need to combine the two high schools into one due to declining enrollment and soaring building costs, saying it would cost more to renovate the two high schools than to build one new one.
Superintendent Danielle Bellizzi said the district has identified a site in town for the combined high school, but they’re not ready to share it publicly yet because negotiations to buy the land are still underway. However, she said work studies at that location are already being done.
“We did do some studies on that, so we concluded a phase one environmental assessment, wetland assessment, test fit study, concept site study, and we did land appraisals,” she said.
Councilmembers made it clear they want this issue to be able to get to voters as soon as possible to settle the debate between having one high school or two.
The presentation began late during the meeting and saw some heated public comments. Lyman Hall High School principal Joseph Corso spoke about his frustration about how long the process has taken and pushed town leaders to expedite it to get it to a town referendum.
The meeting also included an executive session to discuss the proposed high school site. No decisions were made by the council during Wednesday’s meeting.
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