District awaits approval for demolition of Winters

Renovations at several schools this summer; Baldwin might be replaced

PAWTUCKET – A number of city schools are undergoing renovations this summer, as the district also awaits approval from the Rhode Island Department of Education to begin demolition and construction of a new Winters Elementary School.

Pawtucket School Committee Chairman Gerard “Jay” Charbonneau told The Breeze that this summer isn’t any different from the past few in which multiple projects are happening at different schools in a continued effort to make Pawtucket the best school district.

Renovations taking place this summer include:

• Toilet upgrades at Jenks Middle School including the renovation of four group bathrooms, one special education/ADA bathroom, one unisex bathroom, and the nurse’s office bathroom to be completed prior to the start of the new school year.

• Toilet upgrades at Goff Middle School including the renovation of two group bathrooms, two additional bathrooms off the auditorium that are not currently operational, the nurse’s office bathroom, staff bathroom, and principal’s bathroom to be completed prior to the start of the new school year.

• Fire alarm and sprinkler upgrades at Slater Middle School, as well as the creation of a weight room, new ceilings and light fixtures in all corridors, and entrance corridor enhancement. The weight room will be completed before the start of school and all projects will be done by the end of the year.

• Minor structural evaluation and repair at Tolman High School.

These updates are expected to cost $5 million total, Charbonneau said, paid for from the $32 million bond that voters approved in 2014.

The next major project for the school district, he said, is the demolition and complete rebuild of Winters Elementary School, 481 Broadway, expected to cost between $50 million and $60 million.

The building is empty but no work has begun at the site yet, as the district waits for approval from RIDE on its Stage II master plan submission, Charbonneau said. The hope is to level Winters this summer and start construction right away, he said.

“I’m certainly optimistic and confident that RIDE will approve Stage II,” Charbonneau said.

Once officials receive approval, the district can go out to bid for architectural design, and estimates could happen in December or January.

Students who attend Winters will spend the next two school years at the Pawtucket Annex on Central Avenue.

While 90 percent of the school’s approximately 400 students used to walk to school, students will now be bused to the Annex, Charbonneau said, adding that the district plans to heavily communicate with parents so they know what to expect.

“Supt. (Cheryl) McWilliams has it well under control,” Charbonneau said, pointing out that similar situations arose with the renovations of Potter-Burns Elementary School and Nathanael Greene Elementary School.

Charbonneau says he expects Winters to take one and a half years to build. Once that’s complete, they’ll move on to major renovations at Baldwin Elementary School, Tolman High School, and Shea High School.

While officials previously said Baldwin would receive a full remodel similar to renovations at Potter-Burns and Nathanael Greene, Charbonneau said the committee is “very diligently” exploring the possibility of building a brand new school at Baldwin.

Looking at the condition of Baldwin, Charbonneau said, the cost of renovating it is creeping closer to the cost of what it would be to raze and redo the building.

“To be a state-of-the-art school, what does that number look like?” he said. “Maybe we spend a little more at Baldwin … what we get for it is a lot more.”

The cost to demolish and rebuild Baldwin, which has approximately 740 students, would be in the same $50 million to $60 million range as Winters or maybe a little higher, he said.

Work at Tolman and Shea won’t happen simultaneously, he said, and the order will be determined based on priority.

Based on their age, both buildings are in need of major renovations including flooring, walls, stairwells, mechanics, and roofs, he said.

Work should cost approximately $50 million per each school, he said.

Money for those four schools will come from the $220 million school bond approved by voters last fall.

Ongoing across the district is the implementation of new security vestibules, paid for from the previous school bond. Potters, Greene, Tolman, and Goff are complete, Charbonneau said, adding that he believes Slater will be complete before the school year starts. The district is in year two of a four- to five-year timeline to complete vestibules at all of the schools.

“I’m glad with the progress we’ve made,” he said. “We’ve still got work to do to ensure that that equity exists.”

Once all of those projects are complete, “it is certainly my intention and I believe that of the Pawtucket School Committee that we are going to renovate every school in this district,” Charbonneau said. “I don’t think the committee will be satisfied until every school is suitable for 21st-century learning.”