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By DANIELLE CAPALBO

Times Staff Writer


STAMFORD -- The ad-hoc committee tasked with rehabilitating J.M. Wright Technical High School may soon have its final blessing from the state.

Committee members traveled to Hartford Wednesday to share their detailed vision for the school with the State Board of Education. The board delivered some "tough questions," said Committee Chairman Jack Condlin, and said it planned to vote next month to set reconstruction plans in motion.

"We answered all the questions to the best of our ability and I think they were satisfied," Condlin said. "I'm optimistic."

In particular, Condlin said the board raised questions about Wright Tech's notoriously low enrollment rates. When the school closed under controversial circumstances last year, The Stamford Times reported its enrollment at 224 -- hundreds shy of capacity.

"Board members said, 'Well, gee, if the school had an enrollment of this many 10 years ago, and it declined, what's going to be different this time?" Condlin said.

Low enrollment was one symptom of an overarching problem, he said. To that end, he suggested an array of new features would make for more successful enrollment numbers this time around.

The committee proposed a state-of-the-art facility with LEED Certification that incorporates green elements from its construction to its curricula, eight trades and courses that prepare students for more options when they graduate.

"We focused on the fact that it's virtually a new school," he said.

The state assembled the ad-hoc committee late last year, and Condlin said the group held its first meeting on Dec. 22. Since then, the group has met every other week to develop its plan, expecting all the while to present its work to the state board sometime this month.

Wright Tech is slated to reopen in 2014 through a $90 million, state funded rehabilitation.

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