The Town Council learns it remains all systems go for a Nov. 7 special election for a new middle-high school. The message was also everything possible is being done to give #MiddletownRI students and educators the building they need at a lower cost.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Matt Sheley at (401) 842-6543 or msheley@middletownri.com 
SCHOOL BOND ON TRACK
FOR NOVEMBER SPECIAL ELECTION
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. (APRIL 17, 2023) – Middletown remains on target for a Nov. 7 special election for a new middle-high school.
At a meeting Monday night in Town Hall, the Town Council received a briefing from Town Administrator Shawn J. Brown about the latest with the $190 million proposal.
That included everything from suggested changes to enabling legislation to potentially free up an emergency line of credit should unanticipated problems come up to a proposal to potentially shift some of the debt burden from the new school to the state. There was also talk of working with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation on getting new utility hookups built into the ongoing Aquidneck Avenue road, sidewalk and drainage project so the area doesn’t need to be torn up twice.
Due to the size, scope and potential impact of the proposed bond package, Brown is expected to provide regular updates to the council moving forward at its regularly scheduled meetings.
“We’re on time and on budget right now and I want to celebrate the wins as we get them,” Brown said.
Council President Paul M. Rodrigues and others applauded Brown and staff for their foresight with the proposals, saying it made sense to have contingency plans in place just in case something went sideways.
Making it clear Middletown would get the best new school for the best price, Rodrigues also said local voters need only look at the Rogers High School project in Newport to see what happens when a community has no outs with financing such a large proposal.
“This gives us a safety net. We’re able to borrow in case there’s cost overruns,” Rodrigues said. “(Look at) Newport, I feel bad that they have overruns. They’re getting a shell of what taxpayers voted for. This puts a plan in place in case something does happen, to be able to address those types of issues.”
Councilman Dennis Turano said he liked the idea of potentially having the state pick up some of the debt load of the project up front, a concept put forward in legislation out of Pawtucket, which is pursuing a similar plan.
The way the town’s bill would be structured, the state would go out to bond for its share of the school project, right now at 52 percent of the total cost — or about $99 million. The town would be responsible for the remainder — or about $91 million — a number local leaders are working hard to reduce.
“We’ve talked about how we’re up against the guardrails,” Brown said. “Certainly, when you move that portion (the $99 million) over to the state, we would see a benefit.”
“That is creative, to move that debt off our books and onto the state,” Turano said. “It takes us off that railing.”
In November 2021, an independent architectural report found $190 million in work was needed to the district’s four schools before a ceiling or wall were opened. That included asbestos abatement, air quality improvements, security repairs and other problems identified in a lengthy report. Visit https://mdl.town/Report online to view that document.
A subsequent study done for the state reaffirmed those findings, saying both Middletown High and Gaudet Middle School need to be replaced. To check out those findings, go to https://mdl.town/FCI online.
On Election Day last November, local residents overwhelmingly backed plans to regionalize schools with Newport, a $235 million for a new middle-high school north of Gaudet Middle School as well as an elementary education center on the Valley Road site now home to Middletown High.
That project was nixed when Newport residents shot down regionalization by less than 400 votes, leaving close to $50 million in state education aid on the table in the process. Less than a week later, City-By-The-Sea residents learned their new Rogers High School was $20 million in the hole.
After the Nov. 8 vote, the Middletown School Building Committee retained Colliers International as managers for a new project — the $190 million middle-high school on land just north of Gaudet once home to the Starlight Drive-In movie theater.
The DBVW and HMFH architectural firms were also brought in to help design the best school possible within the town’s budget limits. Well regarded educational planning expert Manuel Cordero was retained to assist with the layout of the new building.
Throughout, town and educational officials have said they’d prefer to do all the schools at once. But because Middletown was in line for a 52 percent reimbursement from the state Department of Education — not the 80.5 percent plus available with regionalization — redoing all the schools remains out of reach.
Six pieces of legislation are pending before the General Assembly to increase the town’s reimbursement to 65 percent and help smooth bond payments, among other benefits. The town is expecting to know the fate of those bills by the end of June.
The 231,000-square-foot middle-high school is designed so grades 6-8 and 9-12 would be completely separate and not occupy the same spaces. For economy, they would both access places like the cafeteria, auditorium and gyms and athletic fields, but at different times of the day.
Fourth and fifth grade students now housed in the Gaudet Learning Academy would be relocated into the existing Valley Road high school building, which would be transformed into a pre-kindergarten through fifth grade early learning center.
For the latest information about the project, visit https://mdl.town/NewSchool online. The volunteer School Building Committee is also providing regular updates https://mdl.town/BuildingCommittee online.
Document Link: https://www.middletownri.com/DocumentCenter/View/8475/NYCU-School