Johnston School Committee and Town Council meet to discuss school projects

The district hopes to build a new Early Childhood Center and a new Elementary School, make major renovations at the Nicholas A. Ferri Middle School and the Johnston High School. Voters will vote on a $215 million bond to pay for the school building facility overhaul, most likely during a March referendum.

Images courtesy the SLAM Collaborative

PRICE TAG: These are the estimated costs associated with the $215 million Johnston school building project. The district hopes to build a new elementary school, a new early education center, and renovate the middle and high schools.

Courtesy image

BUILDING SCHEDULE: As the Johnston School District plans the biggest education facility overhaul in town history, voters will ultimately decide whether to pay for the $215 million project. The project includes construction of a new elementary school, a new early education center, and renovated middle and high schools. This is the tentative schedule for demolition, construction and opening of each project.

Courtesy image

Posted Wednesday, March 16, 2022 3:00 am

By RORY SCHULER

The Johnston School Committee and Town Council planned to hold a pair of special meetings, in joint-session, on the evenings of Wednesday, March 16, and Wednesday, March 23, to discuss school building projects.

The town’s voters are expected to vote in a bond referendum, deciding whether to fund a $215 million school facilities overhaul.

The boards announced the meetings late last week.

In February, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee joined the town’s elected officials and school administrators in the basement of Johnston’s oldest school, Thornton Elementary, to ceremoniously sign the bill allowing Johnston to seek a bond referendum.

The referendum has been planned for April 5.

The district plans to construct a new Early Childhood Center and a new Elementary School, and make major renovations at the Nicholas A. Ferri Middle School and the Johnston High School, if voters approve bond funding.

The Thornton Elementary was originally erected in 1890, but burned down in 1919. The building was rebuilt at its current 4 School St. location in 1920 and opened to Johnston students in 1921.

Graniteville Elementary was built in 1930, 90 years ago. Brown Avenue Elementary was built in 1934, 87 years ago. Winsor Hill and Barnes elementary schools were constructed in 1953, 68 years ago.

Nicholas A. Ferri Middle School was built in 1960 (61 years ago) and Johnston Senior High was built in 1968 (53 years ago).

“They’re just old,” Johnston Mayor Joseph M. Polisena said. “You can only put so much caulking around the windows.”

Johnston’s state Sen. Frank Lombardo III (District 25) and state Rep. Deb Fellela (District 43), both received ceremonial copies of the bond legislation.

“This school bond bill came to fruition when I received a council resolution in which the superintendent and the school committee had met with myself and Senator Lombardo to explain to us the goal of this legislation,” Fellela said. “After we heard their thoughts, Senator Lombardo and I had our bills drafted.”

Polisena and Johnston Schools Superintendent Dr. Bernard DiLullo Jr. testified, in-person, before the state’s Finance Committee.

“The following week, the committee voted to approve the bill and it came to the floor for a full vote, where it was unanimously supported by the house,” Fellela said.

The town expects to get more than 50 percent reimbursement from the state for the massive building project.

School planners hope to construct a fifth-grade academy, attached to the newly renovated middle school.

The small neighborhood elementary schools will close, and the students will be moved to a town-wide elementary center. If the bond passes, town officials will hold discussions to determine the fate of the buildings.

The School Committee voted last month to “authorize Colliers International to draft an RFP and go out to bid for Construction Manager at Risk for the school construction projects approved by the Rhode Island Department of Education.”

In October, the School Committee voted to retain the SLAM Collaborative architectural firm to take the district into Stage III of the school construction process. At its Dec. 21 meeting, the Johnston School Committee passed a resolution supporting the $215 million bond.

The new ECC will cost an estimated $28,600,000 and is tentatively slated to open in the summer of 2024.

The plans call for closing and then demolishing or selling all of the town’s current elementary schools — Graniteville ECC Annex, Barnes, Brown Avenue, Thornton and Winsor Hill.

The large consolidated, new elementary school will be built to educate 1,100 students in grades 1-4, and is planned for construction on town property just north of the Johnston High School.

The elementary school will cost an estimated $84,350,000, and is tentatively scheduled to open in late summer 2024.

The district will likely tackle the new ECC and elementary school first, and then move on to the high school renovation, and then the middle school project, according to DiLullo.

SLAM has proposed more than $39 million in renovations to the Ferri Middle School and a $57 million facelift at the high school.

The high school is slated for a late summer of 2024 unveiling, and the middle school repairs should be complete by late summer of 2025.

Both Wednesday night meetings have been scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Johnston High School Auditorium (March 16 and March 23).

The agendas for March 16 and March 23 both contain a single presentation item: “SLAM and Colliers Project Leaders: Presentation/Discussion of the Proposed New School Construction Projects and Existing School Renovations.”