Design schedule advanced for dual-language school; abatement and demolition to be accelerated

Architect Justin (AI3 team) told the School Building Committee the dual-language school project remains in design development and that schematic documents were sent Oct. 23. Cost estimates are due Nov. 14 and the team plans to submit two packets to the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) on Dec. 19: the design-development package and an accelerated abatement/demolition package.

Justin said the team is targeting a 60 percent submission in March, a 90 percent review in May and final documents in June 2026. He said the intent of the early abatement/demolition package is to allow demolition and hazardous-material abatement to occur before the main construction contract begins, enabling the overall construction schedule to start earlier; the team suggested issuing the abatement/demolition package for bids around Feb. 1 with a possible April mobilization.

Justin and the committee discussed several floor-plan tweaks (labeled items a–e) intended to improve instructional delivery and building operations: relocating small-group rooms to support the dual-language model, reconfiguring restroom entry points for better circulation, swapping office locations to place the pre-K coordinator near private-placement spaces and moving staff mailboxes closer to the main reception without adding square footage.

The OPM representative said the schematic design package was submitted to RIDE on Oct. 7 and that the team is working through RIDE comments while running the design-development schedule in parallel. The team also said it will submit an abatement application to the Rhode Island Department of Health targeting November 2025 and has filed a planning-board application with a planning hearing anticipated Nov. 19.

Justin emphasized that two votes at the board-of-trustees meeting will be required to submit the two separate RIDE packages for the accelerated approach. No formal committee vote was taken at this SBC update.