![[CREDIT: WP composite] A $350M new high schools project will begin in late 2024.](https://warwickpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/New-Warwick-High-Schools-Warwick-RI-1.jpg)
![[CREDIT: WP composite] A $350M new high schools project will begin in late 2024. A new high schools site environmental assessment is nearly done.](https://warwickpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/New-Warwick-High-Schools-Warwick-RI-1-336x144.jpg)
The pre-construction study is required by the state’s Department of Environmental Management and the RIDE (Rhode Island Department of Education) School Building Authority.
“As a reminder, this is a historical analysis of both (the high school) sites to check for its land uses prior to it becoming a school and whether or not any additional soil investigation is needed,” Spiegel said Tuesday night.
The project is continuing through the design phase. RIDE has provided preliminary comments for the schematic design submission, Spiegel noted.
“We are working on a response as we further develop the details of the project and the design development phase. Teacher stakeholder groups have submitted requests. Top concerns at this point appear to be security, storage, and the teacher work/planning rooms,” Spiegel added. “We want to set the expectations that the project can not support every request. With that said, in many cases the requests are already included within the design. Some most likely we will not be able to accommodate per budget.”
An informational session on the $350 million project was held at an August School Committee meeting. Spiegel presented a breakdown of expenses, including $280 million for building construction, site work, and demolition.
About $42 million is designated for “soft costs,” including architectural and engineering services, furniture, and other materials.
Spiegel noted $28 million has been reserved for contingency, funds which are used to protect the project from cost overruns.
Groundbreaking is slated to begin in March 2025.
Finance Director planning to avoid deficit
Brandon Bohl, the district’s Director of Finance, told the Committee about plans to avoid a deficit in next year’s budget.
“Fiscal year ’25 I’m anticipating we’re going to be significantly overbudget again,” Bohl said. “We did implement layoffs but we also hired a number of folks too. There’s programmatic needs for people so we just can’t say no to every hire that comes through the district. From a budget perspective, it does add a bit of stress.”
“We had those layoffs (in the FY’25 budget) which we believed would have saved us approximately $1.4 million I believe,” said Chairman Shaun Galligan. “Now we know we need these positions for the students as some of the IEPs are dictating that so we’re bringing them back. Those cost savings are soon to be negated and then we’re going now to be adding more costs on. I commend the administration for identifying it so early in the fiscal year and then being proactive in developing a strategy,” Galligan said.
Galligan said Bohl would present an action plan to the finance subcommittee in November. The finance subcommittee will then pass it on to the entire school committee for review and approval.
Committee tables Bidding Investigation Discussion
A discussion/action on a Bidding and Procurement Investigation Review was tabled in a 5-0 vote.
The discussion would have concerned an August revelation that Warwick Schools awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars to Jada Trucking, a moving company that’s owned by David Oliver, a cousin of the district’s facilities director Kevin Oliver.
Mayor Frank Picozzi said the contracts were awarded without going out to bid, which is against the law. The School Department and the RI State Police have launched separate investigations into the matter.
The meeting can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9-GQqZi0HM
Author: Joe Siegel
Joe Siegel is a regular contributing writer for WarwickPost.com. His reporting has appeared in The Sun Chronicle in Attleboro and EDGE.
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