By Matt Sheley, Town of Middletown
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. (JULY 17, 2023) – A proposed $190 million new middle-school is one step closer to voters.
At a meeting Monday night in Town Hall, the Town Council unanimously approved submitting a resolution for the project to the Secretary of State for inclusion on the Nov. 7 special election ballot. Voters will go to the polls that day to decide on a replacement for David Cicilline, who stepped down from Congress on June 1.
The move comes after the town learned it was on target to receive a 55 percent reimbursement from the state to help pay for the school, which would be built just north of the existing Gaudet Middle School. That means for every dollar Middletown spends for the school, it should receive 55 cents in return.
“Our job on this side is to present the information accurately, transparently, and let the voters make the decision,” council President Paul M. Rodrigues said, saying it was unlikely the town would ever be in line for 50-55 percent reimbursements again. “$190 million is beyond me. I shouldn’t sit up here and say ‘Yeah, let’s do it!’ Let that be on the voters.”
“I think it would be a huge disservice not to put this on the ballot,” council Vice President Thomas Welch said. “It’s very simple. Every time we go through this, every meeting we have, every time (our experts) speak in front of us, we gain more information. November is a chance for everyone here and everybody at home to vote. You get right up to the end, you make a decision based on what you feel is the best thing to do is. There’s no harm putting this on the ballot.”
Prior to the vote, a half dozen residents approached the council, saying the project was too costly, there were too many unknowns, student enrollments were dropping and other concerns.
“I feel like I’m in a scene where I’m in the final minutes of the movie ‘Animal House,’ where a happy-go-lucky marching band is hijacked and led into a brick wall to the beat of a cheering town…” former School Committeeman Paul Mankofsky said. “I believe we’re being hijacked and please reject the resolution to put this on as a bond…until we have a better idea of where we’re going and what we’re doing.”
In response, School Building Committee Co-Chairman Charlie Roberts said he, his dedicated board of volunteers and others were working hard improve the school buildings, something he said was a long time coming. Through the group’s work and based on the findings of the experts, Roberts said Middletown has no other option but to back the bond.
“There is a need and the need is not going away,” Roberts said. “We have an issue with the facilities of our schools. We have an opportunity in front of us. I ask you to put this out to the voters. Let them decide.
“Is there more information we have to put together? Absolutely. We are working every single day. Thankfully, we have a town manager, Shawn (Brown), who goes above and beyond to try to get those answers out to our voters, to everybody in the community. Our committee is transparent and we’re learning from some of our neighbors on this island about what not to do in this process.”
In November 2021, an independent report showed the Middletown schools needed $190 million in upgrades before a wall or ceiling were opened. A March 2023 report from the state echoed those findings, indicating it would cost more to fix the schools it already has than to replace them. To view those documents, go to https://mdl.town/Report and https://mdl.town/FCI online.
Concerned the quality of the 50-plus year old schools would continue to decline, the volunteer School Building Committee recommended in November 2022 the grade 6-12 school at the former Starlight Drive-In site.
The way the project is designed, grades sixth through eight would be separate from the high school students. In addition to warm, welcoming, healthy and secure spaces, the new school would feature an auditorium, gymnasium and library spaces, among other assets.
Plans are still evolving around the placement of the pre kindergarten through fifth grades, but the existing Middletown High School campus on Valley Road appears to be at the heart of those dialogues.
Previously, proponents have said they’d prefer to redo all the schools at once. However, the town’s independent financial experts — Hilltop Securities — have said that’s not possible due to limits on the town’s borrowing capacity.
A recent Hilltop analysis showed the $190 million proposal was well within the guardrails for sound fiscal management. Visit https://www.middletownri.com/DocumentCenter/View/9044/ NYCU-55 for more.
“We want the voters to be educated on this important decision, but they need to have the opportunity to make that decision…” Roberts said. “To the voters of Middletown, you may think this is just an open check to the School Department. That’s not what this is.
“This is an opportunity for the Town of Middletown to do something not only for our students, who should be first and foremost, but also for our taxpayers because I’ll ask all of you to think about what do we do if we don’t go forward with this? I’ve said many times in the past — There isn’t another option.”