SHS AT 35: TIMELINE
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As we continue our look back at the history of the Pleasant Street high school, we come to the September 1970 referendum in which voters were faced with the construction of a new high school for the first time in 20 years. There were three questions on the ballot. The first sought approval to construct a “Super High School” at a cost of $11,750,000 and the other two were moot unless the first question was approved – including an auditorium as part of the project at a cost of $600,000 and a pool at a cost of $750,000. All three were rejected by voters. Here is a portion of Edna Wood’s article from the Sept. 23, 1970 issue of the Southington News.
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“The message is clear.”
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These were the words of Attorney Francis S. Kane, chairman of the High School Building Committee, after the town-wide referendum Monday (Sept. 20) in which Southington voters overwhelmingly rejected, by a margin of nearly 4-1, the Board of Education’s proposed 2,400-pupil four-year Super High School, which would have carried a price tag estimated at nearly $18 million.
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Voters in all seven of the town’s districts turned down all three referendum proposals, with the $11.7 million bond issue proposal for the basic school being defeated by a vote of 4,949 to 1,352.
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Tuesday morning Dr. Joseph Robitaille, schools superintendent, said that he and the principals, along with Asst. Superintendent John Pyne, will be working together to find the “best thinking on a solution for double sessions to meet the immediate crisis of overcrowding in the high school.” He predicted that next year the high school enrollment will be close to 1,750. The school was built to hold 1,500 pupils.
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This was the second referendum within nine months that the electorate has rejected. Last fall, voters shot down the construction of a new police station at a cost of $780,000.
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Later that week, Robitaille reiterated the importance of a new referendum so the issue of overcrowding could be addressed and the board of education could meet its original goal of opening a new high school in the fall of 1974. While the “Super High School” plan was a forward-thinking one, the board scaled back its plan significantly and a new referendum was put before the voters in April 1971. How did it turn out? We’ll let you know soon, as we continue to mark the 35th anniversary of the Pleasant Street high school.