The $250 million school construction bond passed. Now what?

On Nov. 8, Barrington voters approved the largest school construction bond in the town’s history. Clearing that hurdle was no small feat, said Barrington School Building Committee Chairman TJ Peck, but the next phase of work could pose just as many challenges.

Peck said the School Building Committee and design team will undertake “a massive amount of work” in the next 30 to 45 days in order to present the public with clear construction plans. The community feedback to those plans will help form the district’s Stage II application to the Rhode Island Department of Education. 

Peck said one of the first tasks facing the design team — Owners Project Manager Downes Construction and the architecture firm Tecton — will be the completion of a facts-first side-by-side analysis of Sowams School and Hampden Meadows School. That analysis will help members of the Barrington School Committee decide which school campus will be used to host a PreK-to-Grade 5 school. 

The other school will be repurposed or possibly shuttered. The School Committee could make that determination as soon as its business meeting next month. 

Peck said the design team will conduct a deep dive with teachers and other staff at Barrington High School as they build plans for improvements and additions to that school. 

“Educator feedback is absolutely critical,” Peck said during a recent interview. He added that Tecton officials are experienced in the process of culling important information and direction from educators and students. 

At the same time, officials will continue to work on the plans for Nayatt and Primrose Hill schools. 

“We will be coordinating with our educators in a more detailed manner, going classroom by classroom to determine need,” Peck said. “We will work very hard to compile plans and concepts for the public to review… And we’ll have about a month to incorporate public feedback.”

Peck acknowledged that it was a tight window for the amount of work that needs to be done. 

“I am 100 percent confident we will get the work done. Failure is not an option in this circumstance,” he said. “The amount of work done (by the design team) between June and September was incredibly impressive… it was a testament to Tecton. I’m very impressed with the amount of work Tecton did, the level of detail and facts. 

“They’re just an incredibly talented team. They’re top notch. We’re really impressed with the quality of the team.”

Peck added that School Building Committee and design team have completed much of the work required for the Stage II application. He said the district was in a good position to meet the Feb. 5, 2024 submission deadline. 

Nov. 7 vote

Months of previous work hung in the balance as Barrington voters headed to the polls on Nov. 7. 

When the ballots were counted, the $250 million school construction bond in Barrington passed by wide margin — about 63 percent approved the bond while 37 percent rejected it. 

“The vote showed me that Barrington has made a decision to invest in its public schools but at the same time has extended trust to the Barrington Public Schools to make responsible decisions,” he said.

“The community has continued its tradition of investing in our schools.”

Peck said he learned, through the outcome of the vote, that not everyone in the community feels the same way about the school construction project. Peck added that the bond approval was in no way received as a victory lap.

In a statement to the community, members of the Barrington School Building Committee stated that they were grateful that Barrington voters chose to provide funds for critical school improvements and expansion at the elementary schools and the high school. 

“We know that approval of this bond means residents have placed a tremendous amount of trust in the Barrington School Building Committee to be good stewards of both these funds and these projects,” the Committee wrote. “As we move forward with the Rhode Island Department of Education’s school construction process into new phases of project planning and execution, we remain committed to transparency, efficiency, and community involvement.”

Peck said the design team will be quite busy over the next few weeks. And while there are no community conversations planned in the immediate future, there will still be opportunities for the public to chart the progress of the work through Barrington School Building Committee meetings and the School Committee business meetings. 

“Those meetings are open to the public,” Peck said, adding that additional community engagement sessions are likely as school officials advance further in the process.