Key Points:
- The BOE is recruiting volunteers for the School Building Committee recently approved by the selectmen.
- The school board formed its own subcommittee to follow facilities projects and capital spending.
- Officials are still working out how members of the town-appointed committee will be selected.
Why It Matters: The new committees will help shape who oversees Wilton’s school construction projects, spending and compliance with state reimbursement requirements.
After pressing Town officials to establish dedicated oversight for Wilton’s school construction projects, Board of Education Chair Ruth DeLuca is calling for volunteers to serve on the School Building Committee, approved by the Board of Selectmen earlier this month.
At its Thursday, Sept. 17, meeting, the BOE also voted to establish a subcommittee of its own to review facilities projects and serve as a liaison between the School Building Committee and the school superintendent’s office. Board members Mark Shaner and Lori Bufano will serve on the BOE subcommittee.
The two steps follow the school board’s push for clearer oversight of construction work, including who manages projects and spending and how Wilton meets requirements for state reimbursement. The selectmen voted Sept. 8 to establish the School Building Committee and authorize a search for an owner’s agent.
“This board keeps us up to date and on track,” DeLuca said of the BOE subcommittee, adding that it would also keep track of where spending is overseen by the town and where it is monitored by the school board.
“And also, I would like to see this committee kind of look into how we manage our overall operating capital budget and what that looks like during budget season, how money’s allocated…” DeLuca said. She said she hoped members would recommend changes if they found a better way to organize that work.
DeLuca thanked the selectmen for establishing the School Building Committee.
“It’ll help facilitate our projects moving forward,” DeLuca said. “So I’m going to make my first call to the community tonight at the table that there’s now a School Building Committee and that the School Building Committee needs volunteers. So calling engineers, architects, project managers, people familiar with public finance.”
She also encouraged residents with any heating, ventilation and air conditioning expertise to volunteer.
DeLuca clarified that the School Building Committee falls under the Board of Selectmen and said she wanted to work with Town officials on how its members would be chosen. She described the BOE’s recruitment effort as a way to help get the committee organized.
“And we’ll work with them in the coming week or so to kind of come together on a process about how the final selections are made and who sits on that committee,” DeLuca said. “And I know that they’re very busy over there, so I’m just trying to kind of help from the administrative end.”
Vice Chairwoman Nicola Davies asked if there is a timeframe for when the committee would be in place. DeLuca pointed to a request for proposals (RFP) already issued for architectural services for work at Cider Mill School. At the May 2026 Annual Town Meeting, voters approved bonding for three Cider Mill projects: a partial roof replacement, site work and replacement of doors and windows, and exterior envelope renovations.
DeLuca said that while the final decision of which architectural firm is awarded that contract “lives at the Board of Selectmen table,” DeLuca explained that all proposal submissions will go through the School Building Committee to make a recommendation. That made getting the committee staffed a priority, she said.
“The RFP responses will be coming in over the next couple of weeks. So I think that there is a sense of urgency to get this going so we can make sure that we’re on track for our work [in] summer 2027,” DeLuca said.
The Board of Selectmen has also authorized a search for an owner’s agent to help oversee upcoming school construction projects. Superintendent Kevin Smith said there was less urgency to move forward with that search than with the building committee’s formation. But, he added, when the time comes to solicit vendors, that may be when the owner’s agent comes into play.
“The first order of priority is setting up the committee and then facilitating the Board of Selectmen’s selection of architectural services for that project, and then moving on to, at the same time, then having the RFP go out for owner’s agent services,” DeLuca said.
Smith said he will reach out to the state Department of Administrative Services, whose staff had offered to help.
“And then we can get into kind of what’s next as we get into the budget planning,” Smith said.
At its Sept. 3 meeting, the BOE approved educational specifications for all four Wilton schools — Miller-Driscoll Elementary School, Cider Mill, Middlebrook Middle School and Wilton High School. The documents describe educational needs and possible building improvements needed to achieve certain long-range educational goals, community uses and building upgrades. They are also required for school construction grant applications.
Residents interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities on the School Building Committee can email the Board of Education or BOE Chair Ruth DeLuca.
