1.
When Shepaug Valley Middle School
was built, to serve the children of the
baby boom, three hundred students
spilled out of school buses every
morning. The building had a line of
double doors at the entrance to handle
the crush, and the corridors inside
seemed as busy as a highway.
But that was long ago. The baby boom
came and went. The bucolic corner of
Connecticut where Shepaug is located—
with its charming Colonial-era villages
and winding country lanes—was
discovered by wealthy couples from
New York City. Real-estate prices rose.