Middle school is a tough place for preteens, but it’s the perfect place for George Washington.
So say school and town officials, who have decided that Middlebrook Middle School is a more appropriate place to house a statue of the Father of our Country than is Wilton High School’s Zellner Gallery in the Clune Auditorium.
The statue in question is one that first selectman Bill Brennan has championed as a piece of patriotic artwork with a strong connection to Wilton. Through his efforts, the statue was gifted to the town by the children of its sculptor, former Wilton resident Gifford Proctor. When Brennan announced the gift of the statue to the town, he said that he planned to have the statute placed in the high school’s Zellner Gallery.
“We’ve had a number of conversations among members of the district and also folks within town about that location. Consequently [we] sat down with Bill Brennan and talked through some of those issues. Speaking personally, this statute is a wonderful treasure. One of the conversation points was, how can we best utilize this treasure? Where would it add the greatest value to the town?” Bruce Likly, chair of the BoE, explained to board members at their meeting last night.
Likly was referring to complaints some residents had about situating the statue at the Zellner Gallery.
School officials decided that the statue could actually be incorporated into the middle school curriculum, in consultation with the Middlebrook principal Maria Coleman.
“We felt it might be better utilized at Middlebrook, where we spend a lot of time teaching the birth of our country,” Likly said, adding that the statue can be used as a teaching tool as well as a symbol. Officials have identified a location in the foyer of the Middlebrook Auditorium.
According to Likly, Brennan has agreed to the change in proposed location and supports the move.
Because the statue officially belongs to the town, and the BoE has policies regarding gifts made to the school district, which need to be followed. Accordingly, the statue is being consigned on a temporary basis for educational purposes, “…for as long as the school district has need for it and as long as the town is willing to let us have it,” Likly said.
Because the school is not open to the public, Likly added that there will need to be limitations set on when residents will be able to view the statute. Superintendent Kevin Smith said that Coleman is already at work figuring out when and how to schedule visiting hours, and that some of the students might be trained as docents to talk to the public about the statue.
Board member Christine Finkelstein said she favored this plan.
“Having gone to the site where it’s going to be placed, it’s the perfect place for it. I think George will be more at home and appreciated, because it’s going to fit right in with the curriculum. Maria’s thought process of how the students who are studying the Revolutionary War will be able to make it part of a living and breathing exhibit there, and it will really become part of the Middlebrook culture,” she said.
Her fellow board member, Laura Schwemm, agreed. “We do have a tendency to fill spaces in Wilton, and the Zellner Gallery is a beautiful space. To keep it open, to keep the vision of what the gallery was intended for when it was built, is really nice to keep that space and give George a proper setting.”