Architects To Present Charter Oak School Conceptual Plans

WEST HARTFORD Architects from Perkins Eastman will present conceptual plans for the new Charter Oak International Academy at a meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The firm came up with three abstract designs for the building and site layout after holding public meetings earlier this month.

The town plans to build the new 86,000-square-foot building in an effort to correct a racial imbalance at the town's two magnet schools: Charter Oak, an International Baccalaureate school, and Smith STEM School; STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. The $44.6 million project is expected to cost the town between $9 million and $16.65 million, after reimbursement from the state under diversity school legislation.

The current 1929 building will remain standing while the new building, which will hold nearly double the number of students the current school does, is constructed. The school currently holds about 300 students and has three classes per grade.

The district plans to have five pre-kindergarten classrooms and four classrooms each for kindergarten through fifth grade, with an anticipated 560 students attending by the 2020-2021 school year.

The town expects that a complete schematic design and cost estimate will be presented to the school board by the end of January. If all goes according to plan, the board will review and approve a final project design in June.

The new building is expected to open for the 2016-2017 school year.

The meeting will be held at Charter Oak, 425 Oakwood Ave. For more information, visit http://www.whps.org and click "Charter Oak Building News" under "Timely Topics."

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Architects To Present Charter Oak School Conceptual Plans