The special meeting scheduled by the Wilton’s Public Schools’ Board of Education for this morning, Tuesday, Feb. 18, to finalize selection of an independent air quality (IAQ) specialist, will happen regardless of today’s school closure.

That was confirmed by BoE chair Bruce Likly.

Last month Superintendent Dr. Gary Richards announced district plans to hire an independent consultant to examine IAQ at Miller-Driscoll School in response to concerns expressed by some parents. Chief among the questions raised were that the schools had fallen out of compliance on air quality testing and protocols, and that prior test results might indicate air quality problems at the K-2 elementary school. In addition, some parents have said they are unhappy with what they’ve called a “lack of transparency” by school administrators on IAQ issues.

The Board of Education issued a press release late Friday to announce that a proposal from TRC Environmental Corporation, Inc. (TRC) of Windsor, CT would be considered to conduct a comprehensive scope of work to assess indoor air quality at Miller-Driscoll.

According to Likly,the board must have a quorum to vote on the question of whether or not to approve the contract with the third-party, independent consultant. The soonest the board could convene enough members to review a prospective candidate’s contract was 8:15 a.m. today; Likly also indicated a wish to proceed with the analysis at the earliest possible time, acknowledging that trying to coordinate contractor scheduling as well as wanting to be responsive to parents were of importance.

School officials have said that following any analysis that is performed, the results will be shared with the community in a public forum. Likly said that this morning’s meeting will be open to the public and that members of the community are welcome to attend; there will be regularly scheduled time for public comment at the beginning and end of the meeting, as usual. However, he said, this meeting is not intended to be an extended one, as no IAQ analysis or additional testing will have been done before and therefore no new results will be available to be shared.

Tuesday’s special BoE meeting will be held in the Professional Library in the WHS library.