Public has chance for input on new middle school, return-to-learn plan

FAIRFIELD — Residents will have a few opportunities to make suggestions about the Fairfield Community School District regarding its return-to-learn plan this fall and its proposal to build a new middle school.

The district hosted a couple of informational meetings at the Fairfield Middle School in July where Fairfield School Superintendent Laurie Noll described the district’s plan to build a new middle school to replace the existing one on West Fillmore Avenue.

Noll will host three more meetings on Aug. 10, Aug. 24 and Aug. 31, all starting at 5 p.m. at the Fairfield Middle School. The public is invited to attend.

Earlier this year, the Fairfield Community school board agreed to put the matter up to the voters in the district, who will decide whether to approve a $34 million bond to build a new middle school, add air conditioning to the Fairfield High School gymnasium and relocate the tennis courts south of the middle school that would be displaced by the new building.

The bond vote will be Sept. 14. If approved, the district expects construction on the middle school to start next summer and finish in time for the 2024-2025 school year.

Noll said she does not have a detailed floor plan of the new middle school because the district is waiting to see whether the bond passes before spending money on such a drawing.

In addition to the meetings concerning the new school, the district invites the public to provide suggestions on its return-to-learn plan. The district plans to finalize the plan at its Aug. 16 meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. in the A.C.T. building.

At its meeting in July, the school board published a tentative return-to-learn plan which stated masks will not be required this coming school year, but they would be “strongly recommended.”

The district plans to begin the year in fully face-to-face instruction instead of the hybrid model the district began last year when at most half the student body could be in a school building on a particular day.

One important change is that, while the district allowed students to take all their courses online if they chose last year, that will not be an option this coming school year.

The first day of school is Aug. 23.