We would like to provide stakeholders with an update regarding the Barrington Schools Building Committee meeting held on July 14, 2022. We were excited about the Community turnout for the presentation. Our educational consultant, Dr. Frank Locker, presented an overview of the Community Visioning Session findings at that meeting. You may access that presentation here.
Following Dr. Locker’s presentation, Kaestle Boos Associates (KBA) provided an overview of the District's long-term master plan. This twenty-year plan is instrumental in setting the stage for the resubmission of Stage 1 and Stage 2 on February 15, 2023. You may access a video of that presentation and materials here. All information regarding past Building Committee meetings can be found here.
Highlights of the meeting included:
The Rhode Island Department of Education has extended the incentive window, allowing the District to slow the Stage 2 submission to February 2023 without fiscal penalty.
The BSBC has 6 paths forward to consider that will allow the designers to continue their more detailed work. The BSBC plans to vote on their recommended preferred path forward on July 28, 2022.
The School Committee will have the final approval of the path forward.
The paths forward provide general ideas for school builds, renovations, and configurations that will become more refined over time. Paths forward are not binding and can and likely will be modified for our next 5-year submission to RIDE.
Master facilities plans, although inclusive of the next 20 years, must be revisited and updated every five years to remain current with Community needs and changing contexts and to enable Barrington to be eligible for State matching funds for our capital projects.
The Stage 2 submission will include the first (five-year) projects supporting the long-term master plan. It does not commit the town to any projects past the 5-year approval.
Projects beyond the scope of Stage 2 submitted in February 2023 would have to be submitted as part of a separate Stage 1 and Stage 2 submission to RIDE in the future.
The February 2023 submission will consist of a Memorandum of Agreement between RIDE and the District identifying projects, the scope of work, and fiscal projections. After RIDE approval, the Town may vote to approve via a referendum during a special or general election. Once approved by voters, only 50% of the scope of Stage 2 is required to be completed to be eligible for State matching funds.
The information in the video and documents will give you a comprehensive view of where we are in the process. We recognize that you may have comments or suggestions regarding the path or process. We ask that you do so via this linked form before the July 28, 2022, BSBC meeting. As this critical work evolves, we will continue adding updates to the BSBC page on the BSBC website.