NEWS

Voters overwhelmingly support $56M in school repairs

By ARDEN BASTIA
Posted 11/5/20

By ARDEN BASTIA With the overwhelming endorsement of Warwick voters, Warwick Schools will get an additional $56 million to address aging buildings and outdated technology. The bond that will largely address elementary school improvements passed with a

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in
NEWS

Voters overwhelmingly support $56M in school repairs

Posted

With the overwhelming endorsement of Warwick voters, Warwick Schools will get an additional $56 million to address aging buildings and outdated technology. The bond that will largely address elementary school improvements passed with a 74.2% approval.

The bulk of the work is for heating and air conditioning systems at 13 elementary schools.

Consistent across almost all the buildings is the plan to install updated HVAC systems, which provide heat, air conditioning, and the necessary air exchange that is key to returning to in-person learning. The district is in the process of installing 1,260 air filtration systems in all spaces used by students with the first of the filters going in elementary classrooms. Had the schools had HVAC systems, they wouldn’t have needed the filters. Since it was updated with HVAC, Warwick Veterans Middle School was able to reopen for special education students.

The bond is on a 5-year timeline, and a majority of the projects would be tackled during the summer when school isn’t in session.

Superintendent Philip Thornton explained that the order in which the schools are repaired is based on need.

“If we can get Holliman’s roof fixed in year one, it would be great.” He said the school department will consult with architects and engineers on every project throughout the winter, but construction won’t start until summer 2022. That doesn’t mean work won’t be done next summer. The department is working on the completion of improvements funded with a $40 million bond approved two years ago.

“Every January we work with the city council to outline the summer’s project list. We’ll take a portion of the $56 to use during the summer.”

Mayor Elect Frank Picozzi spent much of his campaign addressing the state of Warwick schools. Picozzi said Wednesday he intends to name a Mayor’s Council of Education, which would include the superintendent, a member of the school committee and other community representatives, to address school infrastructure. This is the first time a council like this has been formed. Picozzi is looking to the school department and school committee for input regarding plans for Warwick’s secondary schools that are sure to require additional bonding.

However, that could delay work on secondary schools for at least two years unless the city held a special election.

Picozzi said he’s “never been a fan” of special elections, as voter turnout can be small and restricted to voters with special interests.

But if state legislators were to call for a special election to address issues that didn’t make it on the ballot this time around, Picozzi says he feels differently because it wouldn’t be a cost to the city, and there would be wider publicity about the special election.

Steve Gothberg, school Director of Construction and Capital Projects, is looking forward to working with Picozzi and new members of the city council. He is hopeful Warwick can “take these buildings from 1920 and 1972 and bring them into the 21st century. It just validated the support we hoped to get from the community. With all that is going on in the world, it is critical that we move forward with these projects. It’s all very exciting.”

Darlene Netcoh, president of the Warwick Teacher’s Union, is thrilled the bond passed and is thankful for Warwick voters. “Our schools have suffered long enough. Thank you to the voters for supporting schools,” she said.

For more information about the $56 million bond, and to view the outline with a more detailed breakdown of the repairs to each school, visit the Warwick School Department website.

The work to be done

In a handout available to view on the school department website, the school department outlines how the bond money would be spent.

-Warwick Early Learning Center at John Brown Francis, $2,834,510 for the outside hard top play area, exterior doors, window replacements, HVAC systems, and electrical updates.

-Cedar Hill Elementary, $3,256,965 for exterior doors, window replacements, HVAC systems, electrical updates, and hot water to classrooms.

-Greenwood Elementary, $2,662,725 for paving, exterior doors, window replacements, exterior wood replacement, HVAC systems, electrical updates, and hot water to classrooms.

-Holliman Elementary, $5,759455 for paving, roofing repairs, exterior doors, window replacements, HVAC systems, and electrical updates.

-Hoxsie Elementary, $2,631,445 for exterior doors, window replacements, HVAC systems, and electrical updates.

-Lippitt Elementary, $1,387,000 for paving, exterior doors, window replacements, electrical updates, and hot water to classrooms.

-Norwood Elementary, $2,897,670 for paving, site prep for a new parking lot, exterior doors, window replacement, HVAC systems, and electrical updates.

-Oakland Beach Elementary, $4,225,170 for exterior doors, window replacements, HVAC systems, electrical updates, and hot water to classrooms.

-Park Elementary, $3,417,010 for surface water drainage, exterior doors, window replacements, HVAC systems, electrical updates, and hot water to classrooms.

-Robertson Elementary, $2,966,328 for exterior doors, window replacements, HVAC systems, electrical updates, and hot water to classrooms.

-Scott Elementary, $3,939,090 for paving, exterior doors, window replacements, HVAC systems, electrical updates, and hot water to classrooms.

-Warwick Neck Elementary, $3,842,339 for paving, roofing, exterior doors, window replacements, HVAC systems, and electrical updates.

-Wyman Elementary, $2,855,630 exterior doors, window replacements, HVAC systems, electrical updates, and hot water to classrooms.

-Warwick Veterans Middle School, $1,843,200 for exterior doors, window replacements, installation of garage style doors, and electrical updates.

-Winman Middle School, $5,917,860 for curbing, roofing, exterior doors, window replacements, installation of garage style doors, flooring replacements, asbestos abatement, and electrical updates.

-Career and Technical Center

, $57,120 for electrical updates.

-Drum Rock/Annex, $1,717,000 for paving, roofing exterior doors, window replacement, replacement HVAC filters, electrical updates, and hot water to classrooms.

schools, bond

Comments

1 comment on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

  • thepilgrim

    The purpose of this scamdemic is to bankrupt the nation. The scamdemic will never end and life is over for Americans. Get ready for FEMA camps. It’s all over! Enter world government. In a few year’s you’ll wish you were in Mexico

    Saturday, November 7, 2020 Report this