Less than two weeks remain until voters in Bristol and Warren will decide on whether or not to approve a $200 million school construction bond to fund the construction of a brand new high school and enable an extensive list of infrastructural projects at the district’s other schools.

Bristol Warren Superintendent Ana Riley and Bristol Warren Regional School Committee Chairperson Nicky Piper agreed to sit down last Wednesday with East Bay Media Group’s general manager, Scott Pickering, and this author to discuss some of the most crucial elements of that proposal, and what it would mean for generations of students and families in Bristol and Warren should the bond be approved.

The extensive interview covered a wide variety of topics regarding the bond, and responses were equally extensive in their length, so a Q&A format will be utilized to report on what was discussed. Readers can also be able to view the recorded interview in its full, unedited entirety by clicking here.

Questions have been paraphrased and we have attempted to publish responses in as much detail as possible, edited only regarding the timing in which they were spoken during the interview and for brevity considering print limitations. Responses from Superintendent Riley will be marked “AR”, and responses from Nicky Piper will be labeled “NP”.

Why do you feel the district needs a new high school, and how would that improve conditions for learning in the district tangibly, intangibly, or both?

NP: I think how we treat our kids is sort of how we are as a community and I think our kids deserve better than the facilities we provide for them. Nothing about our high school looks like higher [education] or a work place. We are supposed to be educating our kids to join the world, however they choose to do that, whether it’s by higher education or joining the work force. There is nothing about our high school that currently mirrors what their next chapter is going to look like. And I think we’re doing a disservice for that.

I believe strongly that if you have a strong culture and climate, where kids are operating in an environment where they feel respected and feel worthwhile, they feel excited, they feel engaged with the learning both programmatically and within the environment in which they are learning, I believe that it is a matter of time, and I would say a short time, before we see those tangible results in academic improvements. I feel very sure about that, because if nothing else, attendance is shown to increase when the environment is welcoming and creative and conducive to learning.

AR: Our CTE [career and technical education] programs have been front and center in our mind. We have a growing construction program. We have more than 150 students in that and we’re operating out of two antique woodshops. The teachers are doing an incredible job of creating a modern opportunity for students, but not with modern equipment and not with a modern facility, so certainly that can be improved.

We want our students to feel when they’re working on a marketing plan for their small business, that they are in a small business. That they are in an atmosphere that allows them to be creative and know what it feels like to be in that kind of a work place. And for students to want to be in those rooms because of the engagement they see from our students and the environment.

I think that those two things coming together, the academics and that feeling of community, is what we’re looking for. We want kids to feel like they belong, and that they want to be there. That’s the goal of what we’re presenting.

Part of what gets kids in schools is that feeling of belonging and that there is a value in the space they’re in and they’re valued because we value the space they are in. I think that is an intangible that will continue to push kids’ proficiency in a tangible way without being able to say ‘This is why.’ But there’s data out there that every time you have a new building, scores do go up, attendance goes up. That is factual, and happening in districts where they build new schools.

A lot has been said about the site selection for the new high school and concerns over flooding, can you tell us about the site selection process and what scientific analysis has guided your assessment that the existing site was the best choice?

AR: There were 27 properties owned by Bristol and Warren, which were all reviewed by our project manager and the architect firm. It came down to that there were only two pieces property — one in Warren by Hugh Cole, and the current property. When they walked the Hugh Cole property, they found it had more water than the current property and it wasn’t quite large enough, so we decided to stay where we are.

Typically when they’re building on the same property, the school is already on the most ideal spot on the property and they have to find another, next-best spot. We are not in that scenario. We are actually almost in the worst spot you could build on the property, and we have the opportunity to move the high school to higher ground, out of the flood plane, to a drier spot on the property.

We have been working with DEM and coincidentally with Pare [Corporation], who was working with the Town [of Bristol] and DEM on Silver Creek long before we started talking about a new high school, who is an engineering firm working with our architects, to look at making sure we’re addressing water runoff on the current property.

We do feel confident that what we’re doing is going to improve the water runoff. What we’re doing is not going to make it worse.

One of the issues with the current building is it has a non-permeable foundation…The new building will have what they call a raised foundation with a French drain and pylons that will allow the water to go into the ground where the high school is. That creates more permeable surfaces…We’ll also have retention ponds where DEM has designated them around the property that will help to slow the flow of water into the neighborhood. It will go in, be filtered and cleaned, and slowly released. That helps with the quick flooding we have right now…I wish I could promise people won’t have water in their basement. I can’t make that promise, but what we’re doing will make it better, not worse.

What is the motivation behind moving 5th grade students to Kickemuit Middle School, which would happen if the bond is approved? Do you anticipate any problems with that model?

AR: Putting fifth and sixth grade together allows for planning across those two grades that will only enhance those educational opportunities…I think for some parents, they are a little worried about their 5th grader being in the building with the 8th graders, but we have designed the plan in such a way that fifth and sixth grade will be on one floor…and the seventh and eighth grade will be on the second floor. Can I promise they’ll never see each other? No, I’m sure they’ll see each other on the way to the nurse or the office or something. The only other time they’ll be together is on the bus.

That’s not a worry for me, and I’m not trying to be naive about that, it’s just been my experience. This is more of an opportunity than a challenge. I think it will really allow for 5th and 6th grade to have more opportunities.

NP: I hate to talk about my experience and my kids because that’s not why I’m on school committee, but I can say that my kids, when they were in 5th grade, would have benefited from role models who were in 8th grade, more than I think kindergarteners benefit from role models in 5th grade. For me, those ages of 10 to 14 make more sense as a cohort than 5 to 10. I think that those are kids who are thinking the same way and starting to look ahead to being big kids at the high school.

Every piece of data shows that kids meet the expectations that we provide to them. If we have high expectations for our kids, both academically and in terms of how they behave, I think we will be very surprised at how they reach those expectations if we allow them those opportunities. I don’t have any hesitations. I do understand parents that do, because every kid is different. But it’s our job to meet every kid where they are, whether that’s 1st grade, 5th grade, or 8th grade.

What would you say to people who are skeptical about spending the money on this bond in a district where the student enrollment is declining, and where many people in the community do not have kids going to school?

AR: Our enrollment is declining, but not at a steep grade. We are right now at about 2,830 kids roughly… Our projection for 2027-28, and we had two studies and two demographers confirm this, is to be down about 120 students by then. But that’s spread across K-12. That’s not enough of a decline to continue to shrink. It does allow us to close Guiteras, move 5th grade to middle school so they’ll be utilizing most of the space…And we’re building a high school that is right-sized for the students we’re projecting.

Not doing it now while those bonuses are available to us will only cost taxpayers more down the road. I don’t live in Bristol or Warren, but my son and daughter-in-law live in Bristol…I also know that I hope my future grandchildren will come to school here and I want them to have the best facilities to learn and grow.

NP: There is a common understanding that good public schools are important to the strength of a community…I’m an immigrant. When I moved here and started looking into education and the importance of public schools, it’s one of the things that made me fall in love with this country. It is a country that looks after our kids. Luckily, the people I’ve been speaking to do seem to see that, and that investing in schools is a worthwhile investment.

For others who are looking at it a little bit more granularly — ‘My tax dollar’ — all I can say is that I cannot predict the future, but with all of the numbers I have looked at…I do truly believe that if we do not do this now, the impact to the taxpayer will just become greater. I feel like we’d just be pushing the problem down the road, spending money every year as we go on bandaid solutions, and when these extra bonuses expire we’ll be back to our base 63% reimbursement rate, maybe. And the expenses will have become greater, reimbursements will have become less.

And every indicator seems to also imply that those costs are going to go up again. We seem to be seeing a nice plateau in terms of construction costs right now, but every indicator seems to be that those will increase again. So I get nervous that if this does not pass, our costs instead of $200 million will look more like $300 million, but we will not have that reimbursement rate. So if you live in this town, and you’re a taxpayer in this town, I believe this is the time to invest. Otherwise we’ll just be spending more.