When Charlotte Fein broke her foot in first grade at Riverside School, her class missed an entire clay art unit because materials couldn't be carried to the first floor — and other Greenwich schools had sensory rooms Riverside simply didn't have space for. Her testimony at a January budget hearing captures exactly what the town's ADA advisory committee is trying to fix across its aging school buildings.

Where the work stands right now.

At a Town Hall ceremony marking the ADA's 36th anniversary, committee Chair Alan Gunzburg pointed to progress at four schools. Julian Curtiss is furthest along, with $3.3 million budgeted for the next phase of ADA work. Old Greenwich School broke ground in April on a new kindergarten addition, playground and elevator, with all phases expected done by January 2029 and an extra 15% in state reimbursement secured along the way. Riverside's renovation is still just in the planning stage, with $43 million projected for 2029 — the 90-year-old building was last renovated 30 years ago without touching ADA compliance at all. Former special education teacher Kristen Addeo told budget officials many of her former students "could not be properly accommodated in the building."

The big one arrives this September.

Central Middle School opens its doors as the first Greenwich school ever designed from the ground up with full ADA compliance built in — what Board of Education Chair Dr. Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony has called "the most significant capital project in the history of the town of Greenwich," according to Greenwich Free Press.

What's still ahead.

The committee is also staying involved with the GHS pool and ice rink project — the current eight-lane pool dates to 1968 and doesn't meet code — with $4 million in design costs coming in FY27 and $55 million for construction the year after.

A structural change officials say will outlast any single project.

"Everything we do now, every building committee will have a liaison from the ADA & Advocacy Advisory Committee for People With Disabilities. So that is a sea change from where we were seven years ago," First Selectman Fred Camillo said at the ceremony, acknowledging Greenwich was "late" on compliance but pointing to real progress since.

For families, the date to watch is September — when Central Middle School finally opens.