January 13, 2012

CONNECTICUT RIVER ACADEMY AT GOODWIN COLLEGE BREAKS GROUND

by Frances Taylor, Reminder News

An open field with shabby buildings on Riverside Drive near Goodwin College is being transformed into the site of a state-of-the-art environmental sciences magnet high school. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was joined by state and local officials for a Jan. 11 groundbreaking ceremony for the Connecticut River Academy.

Officials at the groundbreaking ceremony included East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc, Connecticut River Academy Principal Linda Dadona, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Goodwin College President Mark Scheinberg, state Sen. Gary Lebeau, state Rep. Henry Genga and Education Commissioner Stephen Pryor. The Connecticut River Academy is an environmental science magnet high school. Photos by Frances Taylor.

The inter-district magnet school will draw 480 students from 25 different towns for a curriculum that includes a focus on the river, and allows high school students to participate in some college level courses. Malloy praised the concept of a high school/college partnership as an important aspect of education reform. “A project like this will help us close the achievement gap,” Malloy said. “It's a great idea, and it's something that could also work for some our more tradition-minded institutions.”

About 30 Connecticut River Academy students also attended the event. Many of them will have the opportunity to experience the new high school, which could open by the fall of 2013.

The new $57 million, 103,000 square-foot school building will be the first of the college's three magnet schools to be under construction on the Goodwin campus. Next will be the Pathways Academy of Technology and Design, and the Goodwin College Early Childhood magnet school will be constructed on the Willowbrook School property across the street from Riverside Drive.

The Connecticut River Academy, which opened in 2010, is currently housed in a recently-constructed building and a set of portable classrooms at 195 and 167 Riverside Drive. The academy will have its first senior class next year.

Malloy noted that the changing demographics of the state mean that, with an aging population, Connecticut needs its young people to remain in the state, which they will do only if there are educational and work opportunities here for them.” We need to train our replacement workforce,” the governor said. “This is a college that recognizes as its core mission that Connecticut has to be competitive...this project is important in helping to turn Connecticut around.”

Other state and local officials were also present at the official groundbreaking, which in addition to the ceremonial toss of dirt, also included a bulldozer being revved up and its shovel smashing into an empty building on the site that will be torn down to make way for the new high school. East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc, state Sen. Gary Lebeau, state Rep. Henry Genga, Goodwin College President Mark Scheinberg, Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor, Connecticut River Academy Principal Linda Dadona and Dean of Magnet Schools Alan Kramer each donned hard hats and posed with shovels for the ceremony.

The project also represents construction jobs for East Hartford and the state, said Peter Riley, president of the Greater Hartford Building and Trades Council. “We have a community workforce agreement that will ensure that people from Connecticut and East Hartford will be trained and will work on this project,” Riley said.