Schools Open Normally Monday Morning

Residents and town workers took the opportunity over the weekend to get outside and chip away and shovel off their roofs, shore up damage to gutters and downspouts and in the case of town schools, get up on the roofs of schools to lighten the loads on roofs. 

Even as town and school officials put out the word last week that there were apparent structural problems at several Stratford schools, schools opened normally Monday morning with the weather cooperating, at least for the weekend.

The warmer temperatures and sunny skies on both Saturday and Sunday allowed many in Stratford including town workers who were seen hoisting snow blowers and clearing away one large flat roof of snow at Wooster Middle School. From one of end to the other, ladders were hoisted and residents could be seen clearing their own roofs, and better cleaning off sidewalks and driveways. 

Meanwhile, Schools Supt. Irene Cornish had issued a letter to school parents and guardians on Friday, Feb. 4, warning that depending upon what was found over the weekend, some school schedules might be disrupted, even closed today.

Noting that Stratford Mayor John Harkins had hired a structural engineering firm from Fairfield to begin a structural assessment on Friday and throughout the weekend into this week, Supt. Cornish wrote, “If problems are found with any of the school roofs, I will have to cancel classes at that school until the issues are addressed.” 

An official at the Stratford Board of Education offices this morning confirmed that all schools opened normally this morning, even as reports of cracks in walls found at two schools, Chapel Street and Second Hill Lane, plus Board headquarters on East Broadway, have apparently been deemed not serious enough to close any of those buildings. 

In an unrelated development, the Board of Education’s Long Range Facilities Planning Committee chaired by Joseph Crudo will be meeting tonight at 6 p.m. at the Stratford High School cafeteria to continue their review of all schools including the possibility of recommending the closure of an elementary school for the school year beginning in September. 

Last week, the committee recommended that all sixth grade students be relocated from the elementary schools to the middle schools, in addition to the creation of a sixth grade program at Stratford Academy in the south end.