PROVIDENCE – Two separate $150 million bonds were on the ballot Tuesday in a special referendum within a few Washington County communities. One got the OK from voters and the other didn’t.
Voters in South Kingstown approved by a 55% to 45% margin a $150 million bond to construct a new high school and athletic complex. Meanwhile in the Chariho region – Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton – voters there defeated in a close 51% to 49% margin the town’s bond proposal to build three new elementary schools and make renovations to other schools within the region.
According to the proposal from the South Kingstown School Department, the new high school would be built on the site of the current aging school on Columbia Street.
School officials’ plan for the school to be about 143,000 square feet in size, 91,9000 square feet smaller than the current building, to reflect the town’s current high school enrollment, which has declined in recent years. The school would also have new instructional technology, career and technical studios, science labs, a community room, improved security, new HVAC systems and new physical education facilities.
Also, the plan includes a new athletic complex to be built, which requires demolition of the former Curtis Corner Middle School building on Curtis Corner Road. Plans call for a new field, bleachers, upgraded parking and new pickleball courts. Overall, the project would cost $218.6 million with the R.I. Department of Education reimbursing $81.1 million and is expected to be completed by 2027.
In the Chariho region, the plan there was to build new elementary schools in Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton – known as Ashaway Elementary School – due to their old age. School officials there also planned to do security upgrades and new breezeways at Chariho High School, a new skylight at Chariho Middle School and fix the roof at the Chariho Career & Technical Center.
However, voters in all three towns needed to approve the measure for the bond to move forward and it failed in both Richmond and Hopkinton.
School officials said prior to the vote that if the bond failed, the Chariho School Committee would need to provide new direction on how to improve schools within the district. They say that more than $51 million in repairs to schools will still need to be address “just to keep the schools in safe operation.” Those costs, school officials say, do not include enhancing educational programs or making upgrades to technology or safety.
Plus, about 39% of the repair costs will still be burdened by the towns within the Chariho district, school officials say.
(CORRECTION: The $150 million bond measure in the Chariho region failed in Richmond and Hopkinton. It was approved in Charlestown. An original version of this story noted the measure failed in Charlestown.)
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
