There are many challenges at the Alternative Center for Excellence on Locust Avenue in Danbury, one of which is a constant waiting list.

Mayor Mark Boughton's proposed bond package initially included $12 million to $15 million to construct a new building for ACE at the High School campus.  Several school officials felt ACE would be better separated off the grounds of DHS, that's part of the reason the kids enroll in ACE.  It's so they're not in a big building.  There is money in the new proposed bond package to study ACE and how to accommodate the 30 or so kids on the waiting list.

Boughton says ACE currently represents a transportation challenge.  All of the students go to DHS and there's a second bus that then transports them to ACE.  If an ACE student wants to take a program at DHS, they have to be transported up to Clapboard Ridge somehow.  Boughton says they want to encourage students to take programs that can't be offered at ACE because of computers and other logistics.

If DHS sends a staff member to ACE to teach one period, they have to be offered a travel period to do that.  He says there are efficiencies created if ACE was located 50 feet from DHS.  Just that piece of the puzzle is $70,000 to $80,000 a year.

Boughton says there are also some issues with the Locust Avenue building itself,  It burns a lot of oil and takes a lot of maintenance.  It's also on the National Historic Registry so there are some restrictions on improvements.

When moving ACE from Locust Avenue up to DHS was taken off the table, the plan changed to turn the current autoshop area into a blackbox theater.  Boughton says the small performance and digital arts space will better serve the one person plays, poetry readings and small recitals.  Currently the whole High School has to be opened up no matter the scale of the performance because that's the only stage that's really available.  The autoshop program would move to a new building to be constructed at the High School.