Residents were offered their first glance at what Barrington schools may look like in the future.

At a special “community conversation” held on Wednesday night, Sept. 20, residents saw the two preferred main options for school building improvements.

The first option calls for a substantial classroom addition at the high school coupled with renovations and additions at Sowams, Primrose Hill, Nayatt and Hampden Meadows schools. This option would maintain the grade groupings at all the local schools.

The second option includes the same addition at the high school and more significant changes at the elementary schools. There would be renovations and additions at Sowams, Primrose Hill and Nayatt; those three elementary schools would offer grades pre-kindergarten through fifth. Hampden Meadows School, currently home to fourth- and fifth-graders, would be repurposed. 

Both plans require the approval of a $250 million school construction bond. 

Residents will be asked to vote on that bond referendum when they head into the polls on Nov. 7. 

School Committee members said it is important for taxpayers to remember that the district stands to receive up to 55 percent reimbursement from the Rhode Island Department of Education for the construction project. That means Barrington taxpayers will be responsible for paying back about $112 million on the $250 million bond. 

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Barrington School Committee Chairman Patrick McCrann. “After this, the 55 percent reimbursement, it will go away.”

Barrington School Committee member TJ Peck, who also chairs the School Building Committee, said officials are soliciting input from Barrington residents regarding the plans — the community feedback, he said, will help school officials narrow in on which option to pursue. 

Peck said both plans “address all the needs of the district.” 

About 40 percent of the $250 million bond would be dedicated to the high school improvements, with 60 percent focused on the elementary schools. 

At the Sept. 20 community conversation, Peck said this construction plan should give taxpayers confidence that there will not be additional school building needs in the immediate future. He said this work should take care of the schools for the next 25 years. 

Barrington resident John Stafford said he would prefer the district build one or two new schools and not spend the $250 million to renovate them all. 

McCrann said that would be one strategy but it would fail to identify the needs at all the buildings and any future work by the district would not be able to capitalize on the 55 percent reimbursement rate from the state. 

Barrington resident Megan Lavigne asked if moving pre-kindergarten to three elementary schools would require hiring more staff. Currently, the district has its entire pre-kindergarten program at Primrose Hill School. 

Peck said there may be some additional costs, but added that reducing the number of building transitions for students may be worth the increases. McCrann said that one of the intentions behind shifting the pre-kindergarten program to all three elementary schools was to spread out the PreK impacts currently experienced at only Primrose Hill School. 

BHS addition

Peck said the proposed addition and renovations at the high school would address the outdated lab space and other classroom deficiencies. 

According to the Sept. 20 presentation, the addition would use the space currently filled by the teachers’ parking lot near the eastern end of the building. The multi-level addition would bring approximately 30 new state-of-the-art classrooms to BHS. Peck said the classrooms would focus on the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) subject areas.

“We are positioning the high school for a long-term replacement,” Peck said.

The high school work would also likely include modernizing mechanical systems. 

A resident at the Sept. 20 community conversation asked if the work at the high school would also include new or improved athletic fields. Officials said that would not be part of the bonded construction, but added that there is money available in the school district’s capital reserve account that could be used for updating athletic facilities. 

Elementary schools 

School officials said the elementary schools are facing overcrowding issues and are “bursting at the seams.” Both options include the construction of additional space, but one would take Hampden Meadows School off-line. 

That option — it was called Option 5 in the presentation — shifts fourth- and fifth-graders to the other elementary schools. It would turn Sowams, Primrose Hill and Nayatt into PreK-to-5 grade groupings; each of those three schools would have significantly more space added, renovate existing classrooms, improve ventilation and HVAC systems, add a second gym/cafetorium, create additional spaces for interventions and other needed programs, and improve safety and security.

McCrann said the difference between the plans also comes down to gained efficiencies. 

He said the option that includes consolidating the schools — moving from four elementary schools to three — could yield 10 to 15 percent savings. And those additional savings could be used to make further improvements at the high school, officials said. 

While maintaining the neighborhood school approach, the district would also reduce the number of times students would transition from one building to the next: Currently most students transition from pre-kindergarten to kindergarten, from third grade to fourth grade, from fifth grade to sixth, and from eighth grade to ninth. That is five building moves over a 13-year span. The second option would reduce that figure to three building changes for many students. 

In addition, the second option would possibly allow officials to use Hampden Meadows School as a “swing space” for students while construction projects take place at the other schools. 

Just voting on the bond

McCrann and Peck said it is important for residents to remember that on Nov. 7, they are voting only to approve the $250 million bond. 

Barrington School Committee members, with input from residents, will decide in mid-October which of the construction options they want to pursue.