Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez will have one less stage on which to apply her acting skills as the decision has been made to demolish the existing auditorium at Fred D. Wish School when construction begins on a new building, which is sort of apropos since the school is on the sight of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus which burned to the ground during a performance in 1944.

During a Hartford Public Schools Board of Education meeting on March 11th, an update was given on the pending WISH school renovation project.  HPS initial project proposal to the state was rejected and it was stated that “the State will not fund auditoriums for elementary schools.”  This directive applies to new auditoriums and for renovation of existing auditoriums.

The district was presented with two options.  Option 1 stated that the existing auditorium would remain and be renovated while being incorporated into the design of the new school building.  If this Option was chosen, the City of Hartford would be on the hook for the cost, which current estimates put at $6.9 million.

Option 2 stated that the existing auditorium would go the way of the circus, but a new school building would be designed with “provisions for a new auditorium” in the future.  The city would also be responsible for the cost of this Option, estimated to be $6.4 million.  So, if there is any year where HPS doesn’t already have a $25 million deficit (I know, right?), or if there is another pandemic and the federal government prints free money for school districts, then it’s possible WISH students may get their wish and have an auditorium.

Based on the presentation given to the BOE by Chief Sheri Davis-Googe and the city’s chief building project guy, Paul Drummey, feedback from parents, community members, and school and city officials has led HPS to choose Option 2, crush it and hope for a rain of cash later on.

However, all is not lost.  Apparently, the state will fund “stages attached to gymnasiums that create an appropriate performance space with acoustical control, lighting, and sound.”  These spaces are called “gymatoriums,” according to the presentation (photo examples of other “gymatoriums were included in the presentation).  Therefore, states the presentation, “the new construction school will have a platform/stage attached to the gymnasium…” (cost included in the total $68 million budget?).

WISH should consider themselves lucky as schools such as Global Communications Academy have neither a gymnasium nor an auditorium, which means they also do not have a gymatorium.  But they do have police officers in their backyard, so that’s a plus.