By Steve Klamkin WPRO News
A ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday marked the opening of a new middle school in Barrington, just days before the start of the new school and after about a decade of planning.
“When you go back to 2009 and think about the process that was in place to build this school, at some point you would say “Is it ever going to happen?”. And here we are,” said Barrington School Superintendent Michael Messore. “So, I’m very proud of the fact that the building committee, community, architect and the builders, we were all able to work collaboratively together to build a school.”
The $68.4 million Barrington Middle School is equipped with state-of-the-art safety and security technology, and boasts locked doors and numerous cameras in common learning spaces, and the first mass notification security system in a school in Rhode Island.
The building features new “academic core classrooms” including large and mini breakout spaces, a 405-seat auditorium, TV studio, gymnasium and fitness center, STEAM Studio and FAB (fabrication) lab, art studios, band and chorus rooms and student union.
After the speaking program and ribbon-cutting, members of the community streamed inside the building for tours.
Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green took part in the ribbon-cutting, and was asked about the contrast between the new school in Barrington and the dilapidated condition of schools in Providence and other communities.
“I have to say that it’s heartbreaking, right? Because we stand here in a state-of-the-art building when there are buildings that don’t have the bare necessities. So for me, it’s a bittersweet moment,” said Infante-Green.
The Barrington Middle School is believed to be the first in Rhode Island to be completed after a long-standing moratorium on new school construction was lifted. Infante-Green was asked if other new schools would be built in coming years.
“I hope so, we’re definitely going to be pushing for it, we have to. We just can’t be satisfied with what we have at this moment.”
