As rising enrollment in the district drives a proposed $17.1 million expansion and renovation at Saxe Middle School, at least one local elected official is calling for the town to re-examine a longstanding policy of allowing the children who live out-of-town to attend New Canaan Public Schools. Of the 51 kids who fall into that category now, most are in kindergarten through third grade, and “we are looking at enrollment projections that says it is going to be pretty crowded over there by the time some kids get to Saxe,” Town Councilman Roger Williams said Wednesday. “If we start seeing 40, 50 kids coming into Saxe across the four grades there that don’t live in the town, and we don’t have enough space for our own kids in town, that’s a discussion as we go through this project and get to the ultimate vote,” Williams said at the Town Council’s regular meeting, held in the Community Room at the New Canaan Nature Center. “At least I, for one, would want to have it publicly heard if we continue that policy or if we charge tuition, and what’s best use of the town’s resources?”
He raises the question as a September vote nears on a plan from a building committee (on which Williams sits) and backed by the Board of Education to renovate the Saxe auditorium, expand performing arts classroom spaces and build a 2-story, 12-classroom addition on the northwest corner of the school. Officials close to the project say it will save time, money and classroom disruption to start the physical work next June.
