Manchester school renovation projects moving from Buckley to Bowers

Jul. 1—MANCHESTER — Construction tools buzzed and hummed at Buckley Elementary School early Friday as workers conclude renovations at that location.

About a mile-and-a-half away, a smaller construction crew was busy salvaging equipment inside Bowers Elementary School ahead of that building's planned renovation next week.

Buckley school on Vernon Street, the first of three schools to undergo renovations as part of the $93 million SMARTR2 bond referendum, is nearing completion, and school officials say they expect it to reopen for the start of the 2022-23 school year.

TIMELINE

BUCKLEY: Almost complete; expected to reopen for the start of the 2022-23 school year.

BOWERS: Renovations slated to begin next week.

KEENEY: Work likely to begin next year.

MARTIN: Expected to be converted into a preschool once renovations on Keeney are complete.

It is one of the first schools in the state to produce net-zero emissions, with roof-mounted solar panels and 60 geothermal wells that harness energy from below the earth's surface to heat and cool the building.

Meanwhile, ground was broken June 13 on the Bowers project, and renovations at that school are slated to begin next week, officials said. That school on Princeton Street is expected to reopen for the start of the 2023-24 school year in about 14 months.

Renovations for the final project at Keeney Elementary School at 179 Keeney St. are on deck and will likely begin next year.

As part of SMARTR2, the Board of Education recommended that Martin Elementary School on Dartmouth Road be converted into a townwide preschool center. Those students would be absorbed by Keeney once that school is finished being renovated.

Board of Education Chairman Chris Pattacini said the board still expects to convert Martin into a preschool center unless it receives a recommendation suggesting otherwise from the Repurposed Schools Task Force.

Robertson Elementary School on North School Street, which closed in 2018, has been used as swing space to house students and teachers while other schools are being renovated. It is one of the town's three closed elementary schools whose fates are still being deliberated.

SMARTR2, approved by voters in a 2019 town wide referendum, allocated $88 million toward renovating Buckley, Keeney, and Bowers elementary schools. The plan also includes $10 to $12 million to repurpose schools that are already closed, including Nathan Hale and Washington elementary schools. Robertson is not included because it is being used as swing space.

The restructured Repurposed Schools Task Force — formerly the Repurposed Schools Committee — has held two meetings to discuss plans for the vacant buildings, so far. Residents who attended their first meeting at Nathan Hale Elementary School, which closed a decade ago, said they would like to see that building on Spruce Street become apartments or a recreation center.

The task force held its second meeting at Washington Elementary School on Cedar Street, another unused Manchester school. To help boost community engagement on vacant school reuse, some residents at the meeting suggested hanging a banner outside the building with a QR code that links to a town survey asking people what they would like the school to become, Zachary Reichelt, a member of the town Board of Directors and the task force said.

Of the three schools that the task force is charged with repurposing — Nathan Hale, Washington, and Robertson — there is a "greater desire" from both task force officials and the community to have Nathan School be the first building brought back to life, Reichelt said.

Reichelt, who attended Washington as a child, said he would "love to see that school repurposed," but added Nathan Hale is his biggest priority.

He said he would like the task force to narrow down its list of possible uses for the three schools by September or October.

The task force has a Dec. 31 deadline to present its recommendations for repurposing the schools to the Board of Directors.

Hitting that end-of-year deadline will be crucial to instilling confidence in the community that the task force can accomplish its goals — now and in the future — after years of inaction, officials say.

"I don't want a lot of things lingering — I want to give the community confidence that buildings are going to be repurposed and they're not going to be left" empty, Reichelt said. "If we leave Mary Cheney to build another library, we need to give the community confidence that we have a process on how to repurpose these buildings."