Secondary schools on agenda for Tuesday’s long-term planning meeting

Jennifer Rodrigues
Posted 8/8/13

The Long-Term Facilities Planning Committee will meet on Tuesday to continue discussions about the future of school buildings in the city.

The committee is tasked with coming up with a plan for …

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Secondary schools on agenda for Tuesday’s long-term planning meeting

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The Long-Term Facilities Planning Committee will meet on Tuesday to continue discussions about the future of school buildings in the city.

The committee is tasked with coming up with a plan for the Warwick school buildings over the next five years and proposing it by January 2014.

What could that plan look like? Well, that is exactly what is up for debate as the committee continues to meet monthly to discuss various ideas.

“People have different ideas, that’s nothing new,” said Superintendent Dr. Richard D’Agostino.

The plan to close Gorton Junior High School, which caused a great deal of debate earlier this year, is still on the table, along with a number of other possible configurations at the secondary level.

At July’s meeting, committee member Ed Racca again proposed the concept of moving the district to a two junior high, two high school model instead of three. Either closing a junior high and a high school, or closing two junior highs and moving those students to one larger high school building could achieve that configuring.

D’Agostino said the committee is also looking at expanding the career center and seeing if elementary buildings could accommodate all-day kindergarten.

Committee member Stephanie Van Patten said she is looking forward to looking outside the box when it comes to the committee. “Looking across all grade levels and not just focusing on junior high,” said Van Patten.

Although she will be unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting, Van Patten hopes to help from afar by providing her fellow committee members with Rhode Island Department of Education’s (RIDE) FY2013 Public School House Assessment. The report, which was compiled from data provided to RIDE by all school districts statewide, provides a ranking on a scale of 1 to 4 of the condition of all school buildings, overall enrollment and capacity per building, and recommendations from RIDE to address the buildings.

For Warwick, all buildings except for Gorton and Aldrich Junior High were ranked a 2, meaning they are in generally good condition with some system needs and minor renovations. Gorton and Aldrich were ranked as 3, meaning they are in fair to poor condition and require moderate to major renovations.

The report also provides an associated cost for maintenance for each rating, which RIDE bases on the average amount spent on maintenance and refers to a snapshot of current facility needs, not a budget for projects.

A building with a 2 ranking has an estimated cost of $86 per square foot for minor renovations, while a building with a 3 ranking has an estimated cost of $147 per square foot.

When calculated, the 122,711-square-foot Aldrich would require $18,038,517 in repairs to earn a 1 ranking; the 126,377-square-foot Gorton would need $18,577,419.

“Hopefully, [the committee] discusses it at the next meeting,” said Van Patten.

D’Agostino mentioned the same report at the July meeting, pointing out that Gorton and Aldrich are in the worst condition of all Warwick school buildings.

“We put it out there so people could see additional information. We aren’t making it up,” said the superintendent.

D’Agostino said the committee’s proposal would stem from looking at the population of Warwick schools and determining what the needs of the students are. With that said, the focus of Tuesday’s meeting will be going over the data on secondary schools.

“Right now, [based on the data] the elementary needs are being met. It is our secondary schools that are being underutilized,” said D’Agostino.

That underutilization is shown in RIDE’s housing assessment. Aldrich has the capacity for 1,105 students with a population of 511, Gorton’s capacity is 1,167 with enrollment of 451 and Winman Junior High has enrollment of 540 with the capacity for 1,433. The story is the same at the high school level. Pilgrim High School can hold 2,228 students but has a population of 1,149, Toll Gate High School’s capacity is 1,867 with a population of 1,014 and Warwick Veterans Memorial High School has the capacity for 2,142 but a population of 1,008.

D’Agostino said the need to close buildings should not come as a surprise to people who have been following the decline in population. He points out that student enrollment has gone from 10,000 to 4,600 but the number of buildings has remained. As a result, the system is not operating at the most cost efficient level.

“Everyone is streamlining,” said D’Agostino. “You can’t function when your expenses are higher than your income.”

Patrick Maloney Jr., a former school committee member and active Warwick schools parent, recalls a “bubble” of students moving through the school system. He said as that bubble passed through the elementary schools about five years ago, buildings were closed.

“It was always my idea that a junior high would close as that bubble passed through,” said Maloney, adding that eventually closing a high school would also follow the bubble.

Also, Maloney said the decision to close a school should be made quickly so as to avoid any potential costs relating to state-mandated updates.

“If we make the decision to keep a building open for another year, we may have to make millions of dollars in updates to buildings we don’t need,” said Maloney.

D’Agostino also believes money can be better used elsewhere.

“Instead of putting money into buildings that are underutilized, we can put it into programming or expanding the Career Center or funding all-day K,” he said.

“As a parent, I feel the Warwick schools are a good place for kids. I don’t think it matters what building my child is in; I know the person at the front of the classroom is doing their job,” said Maloney, adding that closing a building could save something else. “I don’t want to lose music. I don’t want to lose sports. I don’t want to lose ALAP.”

Maloney said the goal should be making sure the district is educating the number of students it needs to in the number of buildings it needs. He also said the public should provide their input, but a decision eventually needs to be made.

Van Patten, who originally was against closing Gorton, has also come around to the idea of closing buildings.

“Closing is not necessarily a bad thing; just roll it out in a positive way,” said Van Patten, pointing out that the committee needs to make sure it is explaining that by closing a building, more programming, more technology or other services can be provided.

While she knows a number of her fellow committee members want to simply focus on facilities, Van Patten does believe the committee should look at the bigger picture, such as common core standards and technology needs to ensure buildings can accommodate those needs down the road.

The committee will meet on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at the administrative building, 34 Warwick Lake Avenue, Warwick.

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  • markyc

    There is nothing new here, apparently. It recently appeared to be a choice between buildings(& the related upkeep cost) & educational programs. It would always be preferred to allow for as few students as possible per teacher/classroom. However, that is not realistic. Student enrollment has declined & is projected to continue decreasing. The per pupil funding formula from the State of RI may increase, however, this increase will not likely offset the projected overall enrollment decline. The committee needs to decide now on what timeframe & which school buildings they will close. One only needs to look at the forthcoming school year(2013-2014). Even with a surplus from the prior year, cuts were needed to be made. What does one expect to happen if there is a smaller surplus & the overall school operations(no change in buildings/administrative staff/school staff/rising costs/enrollment declines?). Educational program cuts will HAVE TO BE MADE to sports/music/extra curricular activities). If it reaches that point, NO ONE in Warwick should be surprised.

    Thursday, August 8, 2013 Report this

  • JohnStark

    There will be two, and only two impactful decisions by this committee. 1. Which junior high is closed, and 2) Which high school is closed. Those are the glaring and critical issues, which is why there is a committee doing the heavy lifting instead of our courageous superintendent, who is paid to make such decisions. But when a decision is made by a committee, no one is responsible or accountable for the outcome.

    Monday, August 12, 2013 Report this