Next month, Barrington residents will get a glimpse of what local schools may look like in the future.

Last month, the district held two deep dive visioning sessions where a group of 50 people — some from the school department and others representing various groups in the community — helped the district develop a long-term educational facility master plan.

The work, completed on May 16 and 17, was the subject of a recent district-wide email from Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore. 

“The objective of the Visioning Process is for the design team to understand the goals and values of the community while exploring a variety of interrelated issues regarding school facilities and education,” Messore wrote. 

It is not yet clear what the facility master plan will include, although officials offered a glimpse at some of the outcomes gleaned during the deep dive visioning sessions. 

According to the district-wide email, there was robust community support for “correcting inadequate school facility conditions,” and for “increasing student engagement through learning activities and spaces.”

There was also strong support for: Improved indoor and outdoor physical education and athletics spaces/playfields; educational equity for all schools; correcting existing space deficiencies; eliminating overcrowding; improving arts opportunities and facilities; maximizing RIDE (Rhode Island Department of Education) financial support; planning for potential universal pre-kindergarten; aligning grade configurations with RIDE certifications and RICAS testing; minimum of three grades in any school; organizing schools to build stronger relationships among teachers and students, and equity across all school building facilities.

“Over the next several weeks, the design team will be working on completing the visioning report which the district will share with the community,” stated the email. “The design team will incorporate the concepts the participants developed from the deep dive visioning workshops, along with data from the community survey, into multiple options.”

According to the email, the design team will present the facilities options at a Barrington School Building Committee meeting in July, in advance of selecting the path forward.