District consultants say estimated school repairs exceed RIDE hard-cost allotment; committee orders updated CIP

Consultants reported at the July 16 Building Advisory Subcommittee meeting that preliminary cost estimates for roofing and interior renovations across several elementary and middle schools are higher than the district's available hard-cost allocation under the RIDE Stage 2 program.

Why it matters: The committee must submit a Stage 2 CIP package to the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) by mid-September. Consultants said current estimates, escalation and phasing premiums mean the district cannot afford every item on the existing wish list and will have to prioritize work before the submission.

Michael Bavares, senior principal with BBVW (project architect), summarized the assessment results and said many schools are "quite tired" and would require more than the originally envisioned work. "So it's not only the interior work, but it's also other things that have to happen around the perimeter," Bavares said, describing extensive stripping back to structure when creating individual classrooms in formerly open-plan spaces.

Consultants gave several high-level figures: subcontractor roofing work across the district was estimated at about $11,600,000 in current dollars, and rough-order-of-magnitude interior renovation costs for three elementary schools (Quannessett/Kwannesset, Stony Lane and Fishing Cove) totaled about $25,750,000. After adding allowances for general conditions, insurance, bonds and profit (consultants suggested roughly 15 percent), a phasing premium (about 5 percent) and acknowledging annual escalation of roughly 3.5 to 4.5 percent, the consultants said the aggregated hard-cost need for the items shown could exceed the district's available RIDE hard-cost figure.

Sam Bradner, project executive with Peregrine Group (project management), cautioned that the numbers presented were order-of-magnitude estimates, not full estimates: "These numbers are still just order of magnitude," he said, noting they would be refined when the team completes formal estimating work.

Consultants also described code-related impacts that inflate scope and cost. Converting open classrooms to individual classrooms typically triggers requirements around fire separation, egress, door hardware, glazing, accessible restroom clearances and, commonly, the requirement to provide building sprinklers. Bavares explained that adding sprinklers is often the most economical way to avoid creating extensive 1-hour-rated corridors and walls, but that introducing a sprinkler system can itself require water-service upgrades and, in some cases, a fire pump and generator.

Faced with the gap between the current CIP scope and the RIDE hard-cost ceiling, the subcommittee took two formal steps: - The committee voted unanimously to ask the OPM to modify the CIP list to include additional deficiencies and updated scope items identified by the consultant teams and to prepare a prioritized package for the Stage 2 submission. The motion passed without recorded dissent. - Separately (see related article), the committee recommended that the School Committee ask the superintendent to produce a 30-year infrastructure and teaching-and-learning vision (including explicit recognition of one high school and two middle schools) to guide long-range CIP priorities.

Committee members repeatedly emphasized roofs and Davisville Middle School (DMS) as near-term priorities. One subcommittee member said roofs are the obvious first priority: "The roofs are number one," the member said during the discussion.

Consultants suggested a pragmatic path forward: prioritize life-safety and envelope work (for example, roofs and accessibility issues), identify a small set of educational enhancements (for example, targeted media-center or learning-space improvements), and reserve larger-scale classroom enclosure projects for later phases once a clear district vision and additional funding are established. Several members encouraged the team to use quick, high-impact measures (painting, flexible furniture, targeted media-center upgrades) where possible to improve learning environments while more costly work is planned.

What happens next: The OPM and consultant team will return with a modified CIP and refined cost guidance in advance of the Stage 2 submission window. Consultants emphasized they must receive direction on priorities soon because cost estimators need information several weeks before RIDE submission printing deadlines.

Ending: The subcommittee also scheduled follow-up working sessions and placed an updated CIP on the near-term workplan so the district can balance urgent roof and code work against longer-term educational improvements.