Barrington School officials reviewed the most recent school construction plan during their meeting on Thursday night, Jan. 12. 

The plan, presented by the architecture firm Kaestle Boos Associates, called for the construction of a new school at the Hampden Meadows site which would serve students in grades 3 to 5; currently Hampden Meadows is home to the district’s fourth- and fifth-graders. The plan also included a series of upgrades and repairs to Barrington High School, Nayatt School, Primrose Hill School and Sowams School. 

The plan drew an immediate negative response from two members of the Barrington School Committee: Amanda Regino Basse and Dr. Megan Douglas.

“I don’t love this plan,” Regino Basse said, following a multi-slide presentation. “… our needs are not being met.”

Regino Basse said the plan only provides a “Band-aid” for the lower elementary schools (Primrose Hill, Sowams and Nayatt). She questioned spending tens of millions of dollars on the plan if it only served as a “Band-aid.”

Dr. Douglas said she preferred an earlier plan — Option 2B. Versions of 2B called for the construction of two Grades 1-to-5 schools, an early learning center at Nayatt, and the potential closure of Sowams. Option 2B drew opposition from some parents in town.

Dr. Douglas asked KBAS officials if the district would lose out on state construction reimbursements if did not move forward with the recent proposal. 

(Earlier in the meeting, KBA officials estimated the plan would cost $130.8 million, although state reimbursements would drop the cost to taxpayers to about $65 million.)

KBA’s Larry Trim and Kate Jessup told the school committee members that the district would still qualify for more than 50 percent reimbursements if they chose to re-submit a new Stage 1 plan. 

Later in the meeting, school committee members chose to move away from the presented plan and instead re-submit a Stage 1 application to the Rhode Island Department of Education. 

The new Stage 1 submission will offer a more conceptual look at what the district would like to do with its school buildings. It will be less detailed than the plan that was presented by KBA officials on Thursday night. 

Barrington Schools Director of Finance and Administration Doug Fiore said the school committee has asked KBA to submit a proposal to complete a Stage 1 submission. He said it was likely that Barrington would stay with KBA as that firm has been working closely with the district. The Stage 1 submission is due to RIDE by Feb. 15, Fiore added. 

Fiore would not speculate on what ideas and concepts would be included in a new Stage 1 submission. He said there needs to be consensus for any plan moving forward — without agreement from the community it will be difficult for a construction bond to earn voter approval.

Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore agreed.

“It’s a matter of getting it right,” Messore said, adding that a new plan must focus on what is best for Barrington students. 

“We did it right with the middle school,” Messore said. “We want to get it right with this project.”

Fiore said he expects the school committee will meet next week to review the new proposal from Kaestle Boos Associates. 

Back to the drawing board

Before the school committee decided to move in a different direction, they listened to a presentation from Kaestle Boos Associates that include a new Hampden Meadows School.

The plan showed the construction taking place on the eastern edge of the school property — work would cut into the forested area located between the existing school playground and Kent Street Pond.

The new building would have been 65,471 square feet. The classroom wing of the school would be three stories tall — one story for each grade level (third, fourth and fifth). The other section of the building would house the office, music room, a “cafetorium,” a media center, a nurse’s office, the gymnasium and some additional spaces. 

KBA’s Sean Schmigle said the construction cost estimate for the new school was $90,300,000 or about $617 per square foot of construction. Jessup said that estimate was in line with other current elementary school construction projects — in fact, a new elementary school being built in Woonsocket right now is costing about $642 per square foot.

A variety of additional upgrades and renovations at four other schools (BHS, Primrose Hill, Nayatt and Sowams) were also part of the plan.

The work had been divided into health and safety improvements required by the state, and HIVE projects — High Impact Visual Enhancements. 

At Nayatt School, the HIVE projects would have included creating new dedicated spaces for educational needs, combining classrooms to create a new library, and relocating the main office closer to the entrance and creating a safety and security vestibule.

Additional work would include a new ventilation system, upgrading and replacing the heat piping infrastructure throughout the building, new hot water boilers, a fire suppression system and a new fire alarm system. 

Similar work — including the new security vestibules — would have taken place at Primrose Hill School and Sowams. 

Between $12 and $13 million of improvements were planned for the high school. Schmigle said the roofs at BHS needed to be replaced, as well as the drainage systems, four gas-fired boilers and classroom ventilation systems. 

Jessup said the HIVE projects at the high school would have been limited to replacing all the educational furniture — estimated to cost $20,000 per classroom or a total of $1 million.