Chris Spiegel, a member of LeftField Project Management, gave the Warwick School Committee a comprehensive update on the current plans and timeline to build two new high schools Tuesday.

By the time of next month’s meeting, Spiegel said the project will likely have a construction manager, as they are planning on holding interviews for the position in the first week of April and approving a manager at the School Building Committee meeting that day.

“I’ve had different construction managers lining up to put in a good word for themselves,” Spiegel said. “[I’m] expecting eight construction managers to attend the pre-bid from the biggest firms that do this work, and we’ve heard of several that will be coming in from other states as well because of how attractive this project is.”

LeftField and Warwick Public Schools have yet to decide if one company will handle both Pilgrim and Toll Gate or if it will be split among two, according to Director of Capital Projects Steve Gothberg. Gothberg said that the final decision will depend on cost and capabilities.

LeftField has determined to go with the Construction-Management-At-Risk (CMAR) project delivery method over two others- hard-bid and design-bid. CMAR, according to Spiegel, was chosen due to two main factors- the risk tolerances the project has and the need to have a contractor on board by June 30.

The CMAR method, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is a method in which a construction manager is hired early in the building process, and they advise the building’s design firm during design and planning. If done correctly, according to FEMA, the method can lead to a more time- and cost-efficient project overall.

Spiegel also said that LeftField is also looking at submitting schematic design documents to the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) as soon as possible.

“There are three gates that we must cross prior to construction start,” Spiegel said. “The first of these is a schematic design submission- we take it to RIDE, they come back with comments, we adjust, we meet with administrators and stakeholder groups to make sure that the changes that we make aren’t going to affect the educational program. We then submit a design development document set, and then after that same process, then we go into a construction document set.”

In order to receive elements on time, as Spiegel said that items such as switchgears, transformers and generators can take over a year for delivery, LeftField is RIDE permission to complete packages and order items prior to the start of construction.

Spiegel estimates that “shovels will be in the ground” in November or December.

Calendar revisions

Superintendent Lynn Dambruch presented the School Committee with a revised calendar for the 2024-25 school year. The biggest changes from the previous proposal, according to Dambruch, are that teachers and students will both start before Labor Day, thereby also moving the last day of school up from June 20 to June 17, and one professional development day was changed from May 1 to March 20.

The calendar was unanimously approved by committee members.

Toll Gate update

The recent two-week closure of Toll Gate was also a topic of discussion, with Dambruch and Gothberg giving updates on the situation at the school, which reopened March 11.

While Director of Facilities and Operations Kevin Oliver was not in attendance due to a “well-deserved vacation,” as Gothberg put it, Gothberg made sure Oliver and his team, as well as Single Source Disaster Recovery Specialists, Inc., got their bouquets.

“If you think about the amount of area alone that was damaged, it is equal to half of one of our elementary schools- over 20,000 square feet,” Gothberg said. “They did a great job.”

Gothberg said that Oliver’s team found that the cause of the flood was a frozen heating coil, which was caused by a damper that did not shut.

The school’s library is still closed, and according to Gothberg, WPS is waiting on a decision from their insurance provider as to whether everything inside needs to be replaced. Three classrooms were considered a total loss, and fifteen classrooms overall were damaged.

Warwick Neck special education teacher Caitlin Regan said that she hoped Toll Gate teachers would be reimbursed for damaged equipment, something she said did not receive enough of following last year’s fire at the elementary school.

“Ninety percent of my classroom was disposed of due to smoke damage and fire extinguisher debris,” Regan said. “I lost a lot of money, 90% of the classroom I had to replace myself.”

The end of the meeting also saw comment from Greenwood fifth grader Austin D’Antonio, who implored the committee on his classmates’ behalf to make sure that the school’s playground, which has been closed the entire school year, is reopened.

“Some of the equipment has needed to be replaced, and [school administration] told us we were getting a new rubber surface,” D’Antonio said. “There has been fencing all around the playground, and no one is allowed to play on it during or after school… This is my last year at Greenwood Elementary School. My classmates and I really want to be able to enjoy it before we leave.”