The Barrington School Committee unanimously approved a pair of options for the future of Barrington Middle School Thursday night.

The options include construction of a new middle school with an estimated cost of $36.175 million or a gut/renovation of the existing middle school with the construction of an addition at an estimated cost of $39.4 million.

Both options were recommended by the district’s building committee and were presented to the School Committee by representatives of Symmes, Maini and McKee Associates.

SMMA Senior Vice President Ed Frenette recommended that the district examine both options to see which one would be the most advantageous overall.

The building committee was initially presented with 17 options for Barrington Middle School. Some of the options considered bringing fifth grade into the middle school though both of the current options leave the grade format as is.

From here, the matter will be sent to the Barrington Town Council before the building committee begins work on contracting an owner’s agent to oversee the design process.

A final decision isn’t expected to come anytime in the near future as the state has a moratorium on school housing project reimbursement through June of 2013. Approval would also be required much further down the road for a bond referendum to be put before voters, among numerous other steps.

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