The Pawtucket School Department is dedicated to ensuring a transparent planning and implementation process and values community participation in all our meetings.  We encourage those interested to attend in person whenever possible.  For those unable to join in person, virtual options, as well as archived recordings and meeting minutes, are available.  To view a list of past and upcoming meetings along with their associated agendas and meeting minutes, please visit the Community Engagement page on our website. 

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A comprehensive search was conducted, but no other sites of suitable size for the new school, including the Shea and Tolman locations, were found. Below are key highlights from that effort: 

In August 2021, representatives from Pawtucket formed an Ad-Hoc Subcommittee to explore the possibility of building a new high school with a fully integrated career and technical education (CTE) center at the former McCoy Stadium site.  This committee included members from the City of Pawtucket, the Pawtucket School Department, and community stakeholders. 

The Ad-Hoc Committee conducted a district-wide search in 2021 to identify potential swing space for high school students.  Despite their efforts, no suitable swing space was found within Pawtucket or in neighboring districts.  It is important to note that swing space requires a much smaller footprint than the proposed unified high school. 

Given these challenges, the City of Pawtucket proposed the McCoy Stadium site, which spans 23.2 acres (over 1 million square feet), as a viable location for the new high school.  In the fall of 2021, the committee engaged SLAM Architects and Fuss & O’Neill for engineering services to conduct a feasibility study.  The findings confirmed that the McCoy site could accommodate the school’s needs and was financially feasible. 

No other site in Pawtucket was identified with the necessary acreage to support a state-of-the-art, campus-style high school capable of expanding CTE programs aligned with modern industry demands.  The McCoy site offers sufficient space for parking, emergency vehicle access, transportation, interscholastic fields, and outdoor learning spaces within an urban environment. 

This centrally located site, designated specifically for the high school by the City of Pawtucket and the Pawtucket School Department, presents an ideal opportunity to anchor the city’s revitalization efforts. 

The Council on Elementary and Secondary Education approved the Necessity of School Construction application in December 2023, with the stipulation that all construction be completed by December 2028.  Groundbreaking at the site is set to begin in Spring 2025, with construction continuing throughout the following years. 

All new school facilities must be designed and built according to the standards established by the Northeast Collaborative for High Performing Schools (NE-CHPS).  These standards focus on enhancing energy efficiency, operational performance, and sustainable design, among other key elements.  Additionally, NE-CHPS sets criteria for minimizing waste and pollution, preventing environmental degradation, improving air quality, and utilizing natural or environmentally sustainable materials. 

The PSD-BSC is a locally appointed body comprised of members from the Pawtucket community, including city officials, representatives from the Pawtucket School Department, and community members with professional expertise in architecture, engineering, and construction.  To qualify for state reimbursements, the PSD-BSC must adhere to both the City Charter and the membership standards set by the Rhode Island Department of Education. 

Reduction in “Out of District” costs associated with sending students to other communities that have programs not currently offered by the District, is estimated at over $7.7M per annum. 

Both Pawtucket and RIDE agree that rehabilitating the existing schools would not be in the best interests of the students, either in the short or long term.  Renovation would forfeit the opportunity to provide Pawtucket students with a modern learning environment designed for today’s standards of collaborative, project-based education—especially critical given the city’s comparatively large class sizes of 28 students per classroom.  Furthermore, the cost of renovating the two schools would exceed the cost of constructing a new Unified High School. 

The substantial structural and MEP upgrades needed to create the necessary Career Technical Education spaces, open collaboration areas, and seismic bracing would present significant challenges.  Additionally, both schools face major accessibility issues, making compliance with Rhode Island’s universal design standards difficult and costly.  Renovation would also require expensive swing space, which is currently unavailable despite an extensive search conducted in 2020–2021 across Pawtucket and nearby communities.  This would add further costs and cause significant disruptions to teaching and learning.  Lastly, both schools are listed on historic registers, making all changes both complicated from a regulatory standpoint, and significantly more expensive. 

Building a new high school offers several key advantages, including the ability to accommodate growing student populations, enhance educational opportunities, and improve the overall learning environment.  A new facility can incorporate modern technology, sustainable design, and up-to-date safety features that support both academic and extracurricular activities.  It also provides an opportunity to create a flexible, efficient space that fosters collaboration and innovation among students and teachers.  Additionally, a new high school can help reduce overcrowding in existing schools, ensuring better teacher-to-student ratios and promoting a positive school culture. 

The PSD is working in partnership with the RIDE SBA to execute this project. RIDE SBA, a government agency, oversees funding for capital improvement projects in Rhode Island’s public schools.  Its mission is to “ensure that all approved projects provide high-quality learning environments, conserve natural resources, reduce energy consumption, are easier to maintain, and offer educationally suitable facilities”.  To be eligible for state funding (reimbursement), RIDE SBA must be engaged in every phase of the project, from design through to completion. 

The Necessity of School Construction Application process is a multi-step application that requires Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to perform detailed assessments in order to develop an effective and cost-efficient master plan.  As part of the process, there are five stages that must be achieved. 

• Stage I – Identification of Need: Stage I starts with LEAs submitting a Letter of Intent, along with a commitment to adhere to the School Construction Regulations and all relevant laws and regulations.  During this stage, LEAs assess the condition of facilities, prepare demographic projections, and outline educational programs for each school facility.  By thoroughly examining these factors, LEAs gain a comprehensive understanding of district-wide capacity, enrollment trends, and how well current facilities align with the educational programs offered at each school. 

• Stage II – Development of a Solution: The purpose of this step is to create and agree on a solution for the verified capital improvement needs at the LEA.  LEAs must obtain Stage I preliminary approval and submit Stage II applications by the specified deadline for Council consideration.  LEAs will collaborate with an architectural and engineering team to propose solutions for the identified issues.  This process involves creating schematic design documentation that can be used to generate reliable cost estimates.  These scope descriptions and associated costs form the foundation for establishing the project budget and descriptions, which are then submitted to the SBA Advisory Board and the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education. 

• Stage III – Design Review Guidance: This phase focuses on the detailed design and development of the approved project(s).  It involves close collaboration with the architectural and engineering firm, the owner’s project manager, and the construction manager to finalize the construction plans.  Once the plans are complete, they will be reviewed and approved by the RIDE SBA team. 

• Stage IV – Funding:  Approved projects that have completed the Necessity of School Construction process are eligible for State aid through one of two mechanisms: Housing Aid reimbursement or SBA Capital Fund progress payments.  The Housing Aid reimbursement rate, also known as the share ratio, is determined based on the district’s financial capacity, with the state share ratio set on an annual basis.  Similar to Operations Aid, the Housing Aid share ratio compares the wealth per student in each community to the statewide wealth per student.  Additionally, Housing Aid offers incentive bonuses for school safety and security, regionalization, and includes six temporary bonuses.  For Pawtucket, the State Aid “base” reimbursement rate is 80.3% with the availability to earn an additional 8.9% more from bonus points. 

• Stage V – Asset Protection & Maintenance Reporting: LEAs must ensure their annual facility maintenance expenditures align with one of the following criteria: a set percentage of the operating budget, a percentage of replacement value, or a minimum of $3 per square foot of building space, adjusted for inflation.  Maintenance expenditure reporting is officially submitted as part of the Housing Aid submission, which is due each year by July 15th.  Additionally, LEAs must submit detailed maintenance expenditure information as part of their Asset Protection efforts.  Districts are also required to provide annual asset protection plans in accordance with the School Construction Regulations. 

RIDE will cover 80.3% to 89.2% of the eligible costs for the Pawtucket project through the State Housing Aid.  The balance will be financed through local property tax revenue, grants, and other funding sources. 

Along with the State Housing Aid, the project team is actively exploring additional grants and other non-tax funding sources to help offset project costs and minimize the financial impact on property owners.