We Know Some of the Costs of Upgrading the Providence Schools — The Numbers Are Petrifying

Nearly all of the Providence schools are old, past life-cycle and broken down. The cost to make them just “safe, warm and dry” but not modern, technologically functioning and state-of-the-art is more than $400 to $500 million, according to a blue-ribbon report.

The cost to have a modern collection of buildings is in the billions.

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The $400 million number is just the beginning. The strategy of making schools meet just a minimum standard may be just throwing good money after bad, in many cases.

SEE BELOW THE SCHOOL BY SCHOOL COSTS

As an example, Mount Pleasant High School’s repair cost is $31,070,239 according to the data developed in 2017. Since then, construction material costs have risen 20 percent, according to multiple developers GoLocal spoke with.

Rehabbing Mount Pleasant High School — a building constructed in 1931 by the Public Works Administration — may be less expensive than building a new structure, but after making the building “safe, warm and dry” the building will nearly 90 years old.

The "Schoolhouses Report" found that replacing Mount Pleasant High School would cost $107,352,000, but that too may be an underestimation.  In Fall River, Massachusetts, the cost of replacing Durfee High Schools is estimated to exceed $263 million.

Mount Pleasant is just one of many Providence Schools that need to be replaced — not just rehabbed.

Water Pouring Through Light Fixtures

Providence Teachers Union President Maribeth Calabro told GoLocal on Tuesday that the condition of Providence schools is substandard and an obstacle to learning.

“So we have several buildings that have leaky roofs -- we have my building for one, Nathaniel Greene, that has leaking roofs in both of the gymnasiums where there are buckets — you know 5-gallon buckets and little buckets all over the gym the floor, which is now rotted because of the amount of water that's infiltrated.  We have [elementary school Vartan] Gregorian that had an electrical fire and that has taken a year to fix for insurance purposes …Oh, Classical high school. A teacher sent me this past week they were in professional development with NASA, who came in to teach our teachers about science, and they showed me a picture of water pouring through a light fixture ..not safe, so you know,” said Calabro.

"I could name a lot more you wanted me to if we had that kind of time, but we don’t,” added Calabro.

Calabro’s assessment is mirrored by the report of Johns Hopkins.

“They are crumbling, there’s mold, there’s water coming into the building; I went to visit [an] elementary school and was walking around the building and there’s paint peeling. A pipe actually broke while I was there and water came flowing down. Kids running around calling out about what’s happening, only one maintenance person. In the basement of the school is just storage, and part of that is these water cannisters from World War II, just sitting there…it’s just a sinking ship,” writes Johns Hopkins in its assessment of the Providence Schools.

The blue-ribbon commission issued a report in September 2017. The report found that across the state of Rhode Island, school buildings needed billions in investment to rehab and replace outdated structures.

At the time of the report's release, Governor Gina Raimondo said, "Every generation of Rhode Islanders has worked hard and made sacrifices so the next generation has more opportunity than the one before. But most of our classrooms and school buildings haven't been improved in 25 years. We must make a once-in-a-generation investment in our school buildings to address immediate health and safety needs in every district, and to give our children the 21st-century classrooms they need to compete in the world today.” 

"Most facilities are not equipped to promote student achievement in the 21st century, to say nothing of the alarming health and safety hazards that exist in several buildings. We cannot claim to care about academic performance if we continue to force our students, teachers, and staff into buildings like this every day," said the union-backed coalition Fix Our Schools in support of the report.

In Providence the Challenges are Daunting

Whether the cost of improving Providence school buildings is $500 million our modernizing costs $3-4 billion, there are few resources. Voters did approve $250 million for school improvements across the state in 2018, there are few other available resources.

The city of Providence and the state's budget face significant structural deficiencies. And, there appears to be little political will to invest hundreds of millions into Providence schools.

Last week on GoLocal LIVE, Speaker Nick Mattiello warned that he presently would not be willing to support a major investment in Providence. 

Mattiello spoke to Rhode Island Department of Education voting to take over the beleaguered Providence public schools, following the Johns Hopkins report which identified the glaring problems in Providence -- including school buildings -- and warned that the state was not prepared to assist with additional resources beyond those already provided. 

“If you don’t invest each and every year you’re going to have a disaster on your hands. They have a problem in Providence and that’s going to have to be addressed. The state is not going to come in with a large sack of money and address the Providence infrastructure needs,” said Mattiello. “They have to come up with a plan. I’m disappointed that I don’t see one at this point.”

429 Too Many Requests

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