Project 21 Background

In 1981, the West Hartford board of Education established the Committee on Secondary Education (students, teachers, administration and community members) “to assess alternatives for organizing and housing the educational program at the secondary level.” The Committee's purpose was to determine the program and grade organization as well as housing arrangements that were educationally and economically most appropriate, based on the desired program, projected enrollment and building capacity. Based on a study of the advantages and disadvantages of a variety of organizational and housing alternatives for grades 9 through 12, the committee concluded that the most appropriate choice for grades 9 through 12 would be to continue the two, 4-year comprehensive high schools. Acting upon the committee's recommendation, the West Hartford Board of Education voted at its April 22, 1985 meeting “to maintain two, 4-year comprehensive high schools.” In recognition of the aging condition of their high school buildings, during the next 14 years, both high schools were studied many times. In 1993, the Facilities Resource Management (FRM) Company prepared a detailed assessment of the school in terms of code updating and other renovation needs. In October 1993, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on Public Secondary Schools visited Hall High School and compiled a report based an their evaluations. In December, 1994, the Board of Education and Town Council jointly organized the Project 21 Steering Committee to undertake a high school improvement feasibility study and retained a consultant, H. C. Planning Consultants, Incorporated, of Orange, Connecticut. After an extensive consultation with teachers, administrators, students, parents, and the superintendent of schools, a vision for 21st-century high school was established, and various options to achieve the educational vision in a cost-effective way were studied in terms of a cost-benefit analysis. Finally, in June of 1995, the Board of Education and Town Council approved a plan to improve the existing two-high school system upon the recommendations of both the consultant and the Project 21 Steering Committee. This Educational Specification is thus a first step in the implementation of the policies adopted by the Board of Education and Town Council.