$215M Johnston school construction bond legislation signed, voter approval is next

LEGISLATION CALLING FOR a $215 million bond to consolidate, renovate and build new school buildings in Johnston was signed by Gov. Daniel J. McKee on Tuesday. The bond question will now be put to voters in the town on April 5. / COURTESY R.I. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
LEGISLATION CALLING FOR a $215 million bond to consolidate, renovate and build new school buildings in Johnston was signed by Gov. Daniel J. McKee on Tuesday. The bond question will now be put to voters in the town on April 5. / COURTESY R.I. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

JOHNSTON – With a quick signature by Gov. Daniel J. McKee on Tuesday, another step was taken to revitalize the town’s school community and make the school facilities, which are at least a half-century old, conducive for 21st century learning.

McKee signed legislation at Thornton Elementary School authorizing the town to bond for school repairs and construction, a bond question that residents will vote on April 5. The bond calls for the town to borrow no more than $215 million to finance a total restructuring and consolidation of school facilities in town, with the state supporting $124 million of the project.

In total, the school system will decrease the number of facilities from seven down to four.

Johnston School Superintendent Bernard DiLullo told Providence Business News Tuesday that students are currently housed in “pretty old buildings,” with most of the facilities built in the 1950s, hence the need to update and consolidate the facilities. Johnston Senior High School, the town’s most-recent built school, was built in 1964 and Thornton Elementary School was first built in 1931, DiLullo said.

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The project, expected to be completed by August 2025, calls for the Graniteville School’s pre-kindergarten program and the kindergarten program at Nicholas A. Ferri Middle School to be consolidated into a new childhood center, DiLullo said. He said that center will require the current Sarah Dyer Barnes Elementary School to be demolished and the early childhood center will be newly built on that site.

The center, according to the state’s school construction report released last week, will house about 360 students, new learning technology, multipurpose STEAM classrooms, a large movement studio and varied play areas.

Graniteville and the town’s other three elementary schools – Brown Avenue, Thornton and Winsor Hill – will also close. DiLullo said those school buildings will be turned over to the town to be used “as it sees fit.”

The elementary school students, DiLullo said, will then be moved to a new elementary school for grades 1 through 4 that will be built on land adjacent to Johnston Senior High School. This new school will house approximately 1,100 students, and will include a gymnasium, a media center, and classrooms to support art, music and STEAM programs. The fifth graders will then move into the kindergarten wing at Ferri Middle School and called a “Fifth Grade Academy,” DiLullo said.

Both the middle school and high school will have “substantial” renovations to make them “like new,” DiLullo said. New science labs, energy-efficiency elements, new heating and ventilation systems and updated classrooms will be updated at both Ferri Middle School and Johnston High School, he said.

“This will be a project that will literally affect every school-aged student in the town,” DeLullo said. “Every one of them will have access to new and like-new facilities. It allows our educators to be able to instruct at a new level to have accessibility to modern classrooms, modern technology and modern equipment.”

If voters approve the bond in April, DiLullo said late summer or early fall is when construction is slated to begin. Colliers Project Leaders, based in Connecticut, will be the project manager and SLAM Collaborative, which has a Providence office, is the project architect. The town is still trying to hire a construction manager.

The construction will be a phased process, DiLullo said, beginning with the new elementary school and early childhood center, then the high school renovations and the middle school renovations being the final phase.

DiLullo said the school department has had joint meetings of late with the town council about the project. He said the next steps will be to have public forums at the high school in March to outline where the project currently stands. DiLullo said early feedback from the community has been positive about the project.

“We’re hearing excitement about the new facilities,” he said. “I think people are seeing that facilities, particularly our elementary schools, are outdated at this point. They served their purpose and now it’s time to do something different.”

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.

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