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All of the schools have a list of needed upgrades. The newest schools, Winman and Toll Gate, are almost 40 years old. Other than an auditorium addition to TG, very little updating has ever occurred, leaving them with inadequate ventilation (no a/c in rooms that do not have windows), inadequate electrical capacity for the current needs, and single paned windows that allow wind to howl through. For many years, minimal maintenance has been done to keep the school buildings functioning. Studies by RIDE and SMMA of all of our school buildings shows a need of $250 million to bring schools to modern, 21st century learning envionments. There are no major structural issues with our buildings and our population has decreased. The idea of building new buildings is a nice idea but we cannot afford to build ALL new buildings, yet all of the school buildings in Warwick have needs. If we build one new school for $100 million and it only houses 1100 students, who gets to attend this school? If we spend $100 million on this one new school, will all of the other buildings still be in need of updates? The idea of starting with $85 million to get the priority items completed at all schools is more equitable for the entire district. The city council should also consider that they are the owners of these properties and take fiscally responsibility to maintain the condition of the schools. The cost of ongoing updates to the school buildings should be a budgeted item into the future so we do not get to this point again.

From: Schools: Fix up or build new?

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