Ryan Boulanger, News Editor
@Ryanbcourant
By June of this year, the New Canaan High School Parent Faculty Association (PFA) plans to install a new, contemporary-styled sign at the entrance of the high school. Currently in its place sits a granite slab inscribed “New Canaan High School/Home of the Rams.”
The current sign was a gift from the graduating class of 1998, which replaced a wooden version on the same stone pedestal. Some of the grievances regarding the current stone sign include its outdated ram logo, corroding support bars, and low visibility.
Photo: Pruthvi Nukala
The new sign will measure approximately 20 feet in length, composed of three and a half feet of natural stacked stone. Most prominently the sign will feature ten-inch tall metal lettering in the same font found on both the Farm Road and the main entrance of the building. In addition, five landscaping lights will be installed in front of the sign for night visibility. These lights will follow the schedule of the existing parking lot lamp timing.
Photo: Pruthvi Nukala
According to Director of Public Works, Tiger Mann, the new sign will cost $35,000 in total, including the total cost of materials, construction, and relocation of the current sign. The NCHS PFA contracted Diane Starr, who has worked on several other projects throughout the community.
Current signage restrictions limit properties in town to one sign each; any additional signs must be approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission. Furthermore, the current sign is situated outside of the high school’s jurisdiction, requiring the Town Council’s approval for any alterations to town land.
The new sign was one of Principal William Egan’s foremost requests of the PFA this school year. “Our PFA is so generous and has a long-standing tradition of improving the culture of the school for the community,” said Principal Egan. “[PFA Co-Presidents] Sarah Wrede and Anne Wagner asked me what I would like to see at the school this year, and I said ultimately one of the things that sticks out to me is the entryway into school. Everything here feels to me like a college campus. But our entrance sign didn’t really feel like that.”
Discussions between the PFA and Principal Egan began in August. PFA Co-Presidents Sarah Wrede and Anne Wagner were some of the strongest proponents in allowing Principal Egan to realize his vision for the new entrance sign. “We sat down with [Principal Egan] in early August and asked him what projects were on his list. He walked around the campus with us pointing out different things, and replacing that entrance line was the top project on his list,” said Ms. Wrede.
The sign went through several iterations before a final design was conceived in February. “Throughout the year there’s been multiple designs going back and forth, and about a month ago we finally landed on what the PFA has now,” said Principal Egan.
After submitting signage permits to the Board of Education the PFA met with the Facilities Committee, a sub-committee of the Board of Education. “The reason we met with them was to get a sense of how the Board of Ed felt about [the sign]before we started this process where we had to report to the Town Council, Planning and Zoning, and then back to the Board of Education,” said Ms. Wagner.
After meeting with the Facilities Committee, the PFA met with the Board of Education for the first time. Following this was a meeting with the Town Council, which resulted in a unanimous vote to approve the sign plans. “[The proposed sign] is a reflection of the pride we take in our school and its outstanding character,” said Ms. Wrede at the meeting.
The PFA then moved on to meet with the Planning and Zoning Commission the following week. After around half an hour of presentation, the commission also voted unanimously to approve the permits.
This meeting was not without its fair share of deliberation, however. Several commission members, most prominently Kent Turner, voiced their concerns about the visibility of the anodized aluminum lettering, to which Ms. Wrede responded, “We drew inspiration from the sign that the library put in at the corner of South and Maple, and I believe those are silver anodized letters, while we haven’t gone to inspect those ourselves, they do seem to stand out pretty well.”
Commission members also had concerns regarding the visibility of the sign to drivers in traffic, however, Ms. Wrede pointed out both the intentional radial curve of the sign to face traffic, along with the four-way stop that slows drivers at the intersection in front of the sign.
On April 1 the Board of Education approved the $35,000 grant as a donation. The following day the Board of Selectmen gave the go-ahead for installation.
The lettering of the new sign is planned to last 20 years, while the stone wall will last around 50. The current stone sign will be relocated to another area on campus.
Along with the sign the PFA will install new banner designs to replace their existing counterparts on the parking lot lamp posts. There are two designs, one for the athletics wing of the school behind the gymnasium, and another for the rest of the parking lot.
Photo: Pruthvi Nukala
Principal Egan expressed his vision of the impact that the sign will have on the school community. “What I hope to come out of these projects is really a sense of community pride that when students and staff pull in, it feels like a college campus, because it should. This place is an amazing high school. I say it all the time. I think we’re the best high school in the state, if not the country, and we have great kids who really take pride in that,” he said.
