Work finally started this week on two new Warwick high schools. On Monday and again on Tuesday, city and state officials donned hat hats and wielded shovels as they dug into mounds of soft earth outside Toll Gate and Pilgrim High Schools following speeches under a tent where middle school students heard about what the future will bring them.

Dimeo Construction didn’t wait for the symbolic wielding of the shovels to get started. Overlooking the assembly at Toll Gate on Monday at noon, Chris Spiegel of  project managers LeftField, said a crew was in the nearby former Drum Rock Elementary School preparing for its demolition, which will open the site along with the current athletic fields for the new Toll Gate. Within a week site clearing will take place as will six to eight weeks of blasting to level ledge, Mark Jaquith, Dimeo senior project manager said.

While there wasn’t the rumble of heavy construction equipment at either groundbreaking ceremony, officials hammered home the message this was an historic occasion that in the words of Mayor Frank Picozzi puts Warwick “on the threshold of a bold new chapter in our city’s future.” At the Pilgrim ceremony he pointed out that he has a personal investment in the new school. His grandchildren will be attending it.

State Commissioner of Education Angélica Infante-Green , noted that Warwick is the only community in the state to undertake the “historic” simultaneous construction of  two new high schools. She said the state is embarking on construction of 50 new schools. “It’s an avenue to a better Rhode Island … this is going to be the beacon here we’re all looking toward.” On Tuesday , as rain drummed on a tent outside Pilgrim, she said “this is not only a groundbreaking but a grand, lifting moment for Warwick.”

Superintendent Lynn Dambruch, who over the last five years has been in the lead in promoting the new schools, opened her Toll Gate remarks with a shout out to Robert Shapiro, the late history teacher who went on to become the first principal of Toll Gate and then superintendent. “This is a tribute to his legacy,” she said.

Dambruch rhetorically asked, “Why is it OK to just be all right?”

She said the new high schools will offer motivational spaces filled with natural light, relative learning centers and designed for collaborative work. She also said it has been “a long winding road with many bumps along the way to get to this day.” Her biggest thank you went to the 33,000 Warwick voters who approved the $350-million bond to build the schools.

It’s really happening

School Committee Chairman Shaun Galligan served as master of ceremonies at both ground breakings, which he called “truly historic and long-awaited moments.” Applause followed his declaration at both events that, “Throughout this journey, one question has followed us: “Are the schools really happening?” Today, we answer with certainty – yes, they are. The day has finally come.”

He elaborated, “This day has been years in the making – spanning across multiple school committees, school administrators, city councils, and two mayoral administrations. What began as an idea grew into a vision, and now stands before us as a reality. From voter approval in November 2022, to the release of the bond in 2023, the hiring of LeftField as our Owner’s Project Manager, and the selection of Dimeo as Construction Manager in 2024 – each step has brought us closer to this moment.”

As a Pilgrim alum, Galligan made a comparison of the school to Fenway Park: without frills and feels comfortable. He pointed to Pilgrim moments including meeting his wife at the school and taking pictures there before their wedding. But he wasn’t suggesting that the school should be kept.

Estimates lower than projected

Contrary to fears that the cost of the two schools could exceed the bond issue by as much as $50 million because of inflation and tariffs, bids on the two projects have come in for a total of $8 million less than initially projected.

“It’s trending in the right direction,” School Committee member and chairman of the building committee David Testa said Tuesday. According to Jaquith, who is a Pilgrim alum, Dimeo expects to have a Guaranteed Maximum Price by July. This could well play a role in when or whether the city conducts a special election to issue additional bonds for the schools. This week both the House and the Senate approved the city’s request for an election to seek approval for an additional $50 million.

Governor Dan McKee, who later joined the lineup beneath a tented mound of dirt with shovels standing, pointed out that the state is investing billions in new schools and that this development is all part of the 2030 plan to build the  infrastructure for new jobs and the future.

In a follow up email after the Pilgrim groundbreaking, Testa wrote, “Now that the ground-breakings are behind us, I think it needs to be said that, as someone who's been involved in this process and project from the beginning, we would not have gotten to this point without the expertise of Steve Gothberg. His contribution to this project is immeasurable. His relationship-building with RIDE and his oversight of all those involved from architects, the OPM, and vendors has proven vital to bringing us to this point. I can't think of a single person who has been more integral to getting us to this point.”