School Construction Updates: Roxbury Support, Westhill Concerns, South Norwalk Steel Topping
Stamford residents are asking the Board of Finance to fund the Roxbury School project, while construction on the South Norwalk school moves ahead.

A few weeks ago, we published our series on school construction, which dove into the need for new and renovated school facilities around southwest Connecticut, as well as how much that will cost and what impact that will have on local communities. This week, we’re back with an update from Stamford and Norwalk.
In Stamford, residents are voicing their support for the Roxbury School project, while members of the Board of Finance are planning to ask the city for updates to the Westhill High School project first. Meanwhile in Norwalk, the South Norwalk School hit a milestone with a steel topping ceremony.
Residents Decry “Dangerous and Unacceptable” Roxbury School Building
At the most recent Board of Finance meeting, a group of five residents asked the board to support the Roxbury K-8 school project, which is supposed to be the next school to go under construction, according to the school district’s long-range facilities plan. The group spoke up after the board voted 4-2 against advancing two contracts for pre-construction and schematic design work for the new school last month.
The group, which includes parents and teachers at the school implored the board to reconsider.
Christina Hohl, a parent, said she was speaking on “behalf of dozens of families at the Roxbury School,” who filled out a petition—which has more than 250 signatures—calling on the board to support the project.
“The Roxbury school, now over 70 years old, is long overdue for a rebuild,” Hohl read from the petition. “The building no longer meets the safety, health, or educational needs of our children. Its deteriorating condition is not just inconvenient—it’s dangerous and unacceptable.”
Hohl said the Roxbury rebuild is “not just a financial decision, it’s a moral one.”
“The Roxbury school community is already feeling the effects of years of underinvestment,” she read from the petition. “Classrooms are outdated, infrastructure is crumbling, and the facility is failing to meet basic safety and environmental standards. We have seen firsthand how neglected investments in our schools have devastating consequences, and it is cruel to put the future of this project—and the well-being of our children—at further risk.”
Kristyn O’Brien, a Roxbury teacher and parent, said she loved her “community with all my heart—it is filled with an extremely dedicated staff, wonderful families, and the greatest group of students. Unfortunately, I’m not able to speak about the state of our school building with the same enthusiasm.”
“I have taught second grade in the same classroom, in what we call the portables, for 12 years,” she said, speaking about the trailer structures that were supposed to be temporary facilities. “The portables that I teach in are the same portables my current fifth grader sat in when she was in second grade, the same that my current eighth grader sat in when he was in second grade, and the same that husband, who is in his 40s sat in when he attended Roxbury in the 80s.”
She added that the floors buckle, there are “old, dirty ventilation systems,” as well as issues with rain inside the classrooms when it rains outside.
Liz Romaniello, a Roxbury parent, said the building is “literally crumbling around them.”
“The proposed K-8 structure would meet the demands of the current population of the city,” she said. “Stamford is notorious for waiting until capital projects reach catastrophic levels, until action is taken. The mold remediation at Westover, which cost this city nearly $30 million and displaced the students and staff for two years is a glaring example of this strategy.”
Special Board of Finance Meeting on Westhill
Board of Finance members had said they wanted to see the issues with Westhill resolved first, before taking action on Roxbury, the next school on the list. In 2021, when the school district’s facilities plan was done, Westhill High School was projected to cost just over $300 million.
In July, however, school officials reported that the total cost of the project had ballooned to more than $460 million.
“I’m having a hard time understanding how we got from $301 to somewhere in the mid-$400s,” board member J.R. McMullen said. “I could understand a 30% increase for the increase in building materials, the increase in time, what I can't accept and what I can't get over is the 65 to 70% increase, it makes no sense.”
In an effort to get a better sense of what some of the outstanding issues and questions are around Westhill, the Board of Finance has scheduled a special meeting for Thursday, October 24 at 7 p.m.
Board Chair Richard Freedman said the meeting would be to “discuss making a formal recommendation to the city as to the items we want answered on Westhill.”
A ‘Day of Joy’ for South Norwalk School
Earlier this month, city and school officials gathered for a steel topping ceremony at the South Norwalk School, signaling the latest achievement with the construction project.
“Talk about a dream come true,” Mayor Harry RIlling said at the ceremony, according to reporting from our partner NancyonNorwalk. “For so many years we’ve been wanting to get a South Norwalk school so the young people who live in this district can have a quality education without having to be sent across town. This is going to be a magnificent school and we’re so very, very pleased.”
The $76 million project will be home to about 680 students from preschool up to fifth grade. The city is receiving a 60% reimbursement rate for the project and there are other investments taking place in the area to help improve traffic and flooding conditions. For example, the city received an additional $2.5 million from the state’s Community Investment Fund to build a roundabout in front of the school at the intersection of Meadow Street, Meadow Street Extension, South Main Street and Wilson Avenue.
Superintendent Alexandra Estrella called the ceremony “a day of joy, a day of celebration.” The project is scheduled to be completed by next August.