East Windsor Officials Seek Permission to Buy Modular Classrooms

Town and school officials will ask East Windsor voters’ permission to purchase modular classrooms to replace the portable classrooms at .

The boards of finance and selectmen this week approved sending the question of buying 14 modular classrooms to a town meeting which will adjourn into a referendum. The total cost of the project is estimated not to exceed $3,770,000.

First Selectwoman Denise Menard said the town meeting will be on June 20 and the referendum on June 27.

Officials are proposing to replace the current portable classrooms with 14 new permanent modular classrooms. Ten of the classrooms will be in front and the four addition classrooms will be in the north courtyard area for the preschool, officials said.

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The modular classrooms have a useful life of 40-50 years, as opposed to the 20 years of the current portables, which the school system has had for 10 years.

Currently, the school system pays $7,738 per month for the eight portable classrooms at the school and at the end of the lease $287,000 for their removal. 

Superintendent of Schools Theresa Kane said the school system made a mistake when it got into the 10-year lease agreement for the portable classrooms. School officials had no choice at the time, she said.

The permanent modular classrooms qualify for the state’s School Building Assistance reimbursement program, officials said. With a bond interest rate of 2.79 percent over 20 years, a reimbursement rate of 56.79 percent, the system would pay $8,864.20 a month.

School officials said all of the construction costs can be absorbed within the current budget.

Board of Finance Chairman Jason Bowsza said if the reimbursement doesn’t come from the state, the town can opt out of the whole proposal.

Kane said the school currently has space problems where classrooms are split to teach two classes and some are taught on the stage. The proposal gives the school system to address those needs.

Board of Finance member Joseph Pellegrini said the proposal is the kind of deal that those in the construction industry salivate at, replacing bad structures with new ones for only $1,275 a month more.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” Pellegrini said.

“This is what they need and they need it now,” Board of Finance member Jerilyn Corso said. “They are correcting a mistake from 10 years ago.”

Corso said the modulars are a better investment than trying to put an addition on the school. Once construction cuts into the school it would bring up a lot of other issues such as meeting Americans With Disabilities Act requirements, she added.