Construction of the new Gladstone Street Elementary School is continuing on-schedule with officials looking forward to a special “beam signing” event on Friday, Oct. 25 to mark the progress made so far.

The approximately $83 million project brings a new school to the hilltop site overlooking Cranston Street. The school, which will house Grades K through 5, will have a capacity of nearly 800 students and replaces the old Gladstone Street School that was built in 1952.

The old building, which school officials have stated was in need of substantial updating and repairs, was demolished after the end of the 2023 school year and the groundbreaking ceremony for the new building was held that July. The construction work is expected to be completed early in 2026, and school officials said they are planning to have the new building ready to open its doors when school starts that autumn.

The beam-signing event marks the completion of the site work and the raising of the steel beams on the project, school officials said. The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 25, at Chester Barrows Elementary School with dignitaries, contractors, students, staff and community members participating. The signed beam will be placed above the principal’s office and painted white so it can be easily identified.

“We are very excited about the newest Cranston Public Schools construction project,” Cranston School Superintendent Jeannine Nota-Masse said last week. “When the original Gladstone School was constructed, it was a model for the future and at the forefront of education and cutting-edge school construction at the time. We are pleased to continue that legacy for the Gladstone School Community.”

The new, larger school will also become home to students from the nearby Arlington Elementary School. No specific plans have been announced yet for the Arlington building, but school officials said it is possible it will be repurposed for another use.

School officials said that funding for the new school is coming from allocations from two bond issues: a $147 million building bond approved by voters in 2020, and a $40 million bond question approved in June of this year.

The building project is managed by Jacobs, a national architectural and engineering firm; the design was created by Finegold Alexander Architects of Boston; and the construction contractor is the Gilbane Building Company of Providence.

The new, three-story school will be approximately 105,000 square feet — about 40,000 square feet larger than the old school. According to past public presentations and information from the school department, it will feature some traditional classroom space as well as open learning areas and smaller spaces for tutoring or one-on-one learning. 

Architectural renderings show the interior as airy and bright with windows in every classroom. The brick exterior will be dark gray on the lowest floor and will transition to a lighter color on the second and third floors. The design includes designated drop-off areas for buses and for parents and a gymnasium with its own entrance and parking area.

The Cranston School Department has put a wealth of information online (at https://sites.google.com/view/cpsbuildingprojects/home) and the site is updated regularly with reports, schematics, photos, and a simulated “fly through” of the new school building.

Editor’s Note: Barbara Polichetti, a Cranston resident, is a regular contributor to the Cranston Herald and Johnston SunRise. Contact Polichetti at bpolichetti@gmail.com.