It is hard to imagine that in a little more than a month, kids will be walking the corridors and teachers will be standing in front of classrooms, albeit not as full as they were last year. (Guidelines are for classes to be at 50 percent of their pre-COVID enrollment.)

It’s hard to imagine because the corridors at Lippitt School are filled with construction equipment, doors have been torn from classrooms, there are no sinks for students to wash their hands, a crew is working on the roof and in at least one restroom, the floor tile has been ripped out, exposing drainage pipes that need to be replaced.

Lippitt is not alone. Roofing projects are also in various stages of completion at Robertson, Hoxsie and Norwood schools. Projects to comply with the American Disabilities Act (ADA), which account for the expanded doorways at Lippitt, are also underway at other elementary schools, as are the replacement of toilets and the installation of sinks to meet ADA requirements. Fire alarm systems are being replaced at Drum Rock, the former John Brown Francis School that is now the Warwick Early Learning Center, Lippitt, Greenwood, Hoxsie, Park and Sherman.

Steven Gothberg, director of Warwick schools construction and capital projects, is confident despite by the seemingly daunting task of pulling everything together by Aug. 31. He’s often questioned whether it will get done in time.

“Everyone says that every summer. We’ll get there,” he says.

In addition to holding contractors responsible for completing jobs on time, Gothberg applauds school custodians for keeping pace with cleaning so that buildings shine when opened.

And assuring to the School Committee and the taxpayers is that this phase of school improvements totaling $9.8 million and funded with a $40 million bond approved by voters is on schedule and within budget. The one phase Gothberg is looking to finalize is ADA compliant playgrounds for Cedar Hill, Holliman, Norwood, Park, Robertson, Scott and Wyman schools.

While the department advertised the work in time to have it completed by the opening of schools, bids fluctuated depending on the material to be used for the flooring. Rubber that would replace the wood chips being used at most playgrounds carries a 10-year warrantee. But it also carries a budget-breaking sticker price. He said rubber costs $25 a square foot as compared to engineered fiber, which cost 25 cents a square foot.

Gothberg said some “value engineering” will be done on the playgrounds and he is hopeful work could be done this fall.

COVID-19 has put a crimp in obtaining materials required for some of the projects, but, as he points out, there’s also a positive to the pandemic.

He notes that with the shutdown in March, many contractors lost jobs they had scheduled for the summer.

“They were very aggressive with their bidding. That’s one good thing to come out of COVID,” he said.

A number of contractors won bids, meaning that at least two if not more contractors are sharing in the work from new roofs, ranging in cost from $750,000 to $1 million to asbestos abatement like that being done in Hoxsie and ADA projects.

The first phase of the $40 million in school upgrades – not even half of the work that needs to be done for elementary and middle schools – was undertaken last summer. That phase of the work was $6.1 million and included design of the work to be undertaken last summer and this summer. Built into the second phase is the design for work to be done next summer.

A familiar structure students will miss when they return to Lippitt and other elementary schools will be the Bradley sink, a round stoneware structure resembling a garden fountain that shot jets of water when activated by a hoop foot pedal at its base.

“I thought it was the coolest thing,” Gothberg said recalling when he was a second-grader in 1959 at Christopher Rhodes School. What irony is that now he’s the man in charge of seeing they are removed because they are not ADA compliant – students in wheelchairs aren’t capable of leaning over the sink to wash their hands. The Bradleys are being replaced with rows of individual sinks.

Fire alarms being installed are “addressable,” offering far more information than the 1980 systems they are placing. Gothberg explained the systems costing $105,000 to $145,000 not only detect heat, smoke and carbon monoxide but pinpoint the location within the building, thereby enabling firefighters to respond rapidly.

Under a $56 million bond issue that will appear on the November ballot, the district would complete the installation of new heating and cooling systems, windows and doors in all elementary schools as well as additional windows and doors at Veterans and Winman Middle Schools. Winman would also get a new roof.

“I hope the city as a whole supports us and gets schools ready for the 21st century,” said Gothberg. Should the bond gain voter approval, he said design would start in 2021 with the improvements being completed by 2027.

Unanswered at this time because the pandemic interrupted the community input and analysis is how the city’s two high schools should evolve to meet tomorrow’s needs. Among proposals being discussed are a single high school with two campuses, a new Pilgrim High School, and considerable physical alterations to both Toll Gate and Pilgrim.