Forest Avenue School Getting An Overhaul
FOREST AVENUE SCHOOL GETTING AN OVERHAUL
MIDDLETOWN, RI (SEPTEMBER 21, 2026) – Forest Avenue School is getting a remake too.
On Monday night in Town Hall, the Town Council approved about $7.4 million in upgrades and improvements to convert the school into the community’s prekindergarten through first grade learning center.
Council President Paul Rodrigues, Vice President Thomas Welch and Councilors Peter Connerton, Chris Logan and Barbara VonVillas were in favor, with Councilors Charlie Roberts and Dennis Turano against.
The move is the third and final piece promised when $190 million in bonds were approved by voters in November 2023. Town officials said all the money for the Forest Avenue work was factored into the town’s existing finances and will not result in a spike in taxes this or future budget years.
Work to redo Forest Avenue School is expected to begin next summer and carry into the summer of 2028. All of the district’s pre-kindergarteners through first graders will go to classes at Aquidneck School for the 2027-2028 school year so there’s no interruption to learning from construction.
“I think this is the last piece to the puzzle,” Town Administrator Shawn J. Brown said. “We’ll have achieved something unique and amazing. Our goal was to improve all of the school district’s buildings, to bring them to a point where we won’t need to make additional capital improvements and we’ll be able to do that all under the umbrella of $190 million and again, it’s reimbursable.”
Building of Middletown Middle High School is progressing “on time and on budget,” with the anticipated opening slated for the start of the 2027 school year.
The project will give the district 211,000-square-feet of state-of-the-art schools, including 38 classrooms, 12 science labs, 15,700-square-feet of physical education space, a multi-use auditorium and more.
Grades six through eight will go to classes in one section of the building, with grades nine through 12 in a completely separate wing in another.
The existing Middletown High School at 130 Valley Road is also in the process of being renovated to become Valley Elementary School. The building will become home to Middletown’s grade 2-5 learners as well as district’s administrative and maintenance departments.
Following a third summer of upgrades, Valley Elementary School is expected to open for the 2027-2028 school year.
Work at Forest Avenue School has always been contemplated for an early childhood learning center, but local leaders didn’t formally okay the project until being absolutely sure the necessary money was available.
Earlier this year, the council awarded a contract for schematic design work for Forest Avenue School.
Project leaders said with everything in line, it made sense to give students, teachers and the community the schools it needed and deserved at one time, with the Forest Avenue School improvements the final piece.
As part of the effort, the following upgrades were planned at Forest Avenue School:
- Restroom renovations to be compliant with prekindergarten to grade 1 requirements, exterior window replacements and mechanical upgrades
- Installation of a new sprinkler system and fire service
- Lower-level flooring replacement with moisture mitigation
- Replacement of the existing non-compliant elevator
- Targeted Americans With Disabilities Act improvements
- Installation of a new monument site sign
- Playground renovations
When all the work is done, every school in the district will be new or have gone through extensive renovations.
All the funding for the school work is being paid for out of a $190 million bond approved by voters in November 2023 and related funding. Importantly, the state has pledged to reimburse the town 55 percent of all eligible costs for the work, or 55 cents on every dollar.
The School Building Committee has held well more than 100 meetings to review every aspect of the entire school project from designs and layouts to the exterior look and more. For additional information, visit https://mdl.town/SBC online.
To make sure local leaders — and the entire community — were up to speed on the work, the Town Council gets updates from Shared Facilities Director Ed Collins and others during its televised regular meetings.
Throughout, council members — led by President Paul M. Rodrigues — have stressed the need to deliver on promises made in the months leading up to the November 2023 vote.
The message was the same Monday night, where most council members agreed work at the Forest Avenue School made sense sooner than later.
Arguing the cost of the needed improvements were only going to go up five or 10 years, a majority of the council said Middletown wouldn’t get the same 55 percent reimbursement from the state if it didn’t move forward.
Colliers Project Manager Justin Bernard said based on his understanding, Middletown was at a risk of not getting a dime from the Rhode Island Department of Education if the community didn’t do the work at Forest Avenue now.
“You’ll essentially have three new schools,” Bernard said when all the work was done. “Two opening next year and the other in the 2027-2028 school year.”
Piggybacking on those comments, school Superintendent Billy Niemeyer said all the improvements were needed, including the new youth appropriate bathrooms, moisture mitigation upgrades, HVAC improvements and more.
Roberts and Turano said they were supporters of the schools, but Middletown needed to draw the line somewhere and stem some spending. In response, other council members said waiting would end up hurting students and taxpayers long term.
“This is the perfect time to take advantage of that,” Welch said. “On top of the reimbursements, I don’t think we could do it any better and stay within the $190 million (budget). I don’t see any downside to this.”
“(If we don’t do the work now), in my opinion it would cost more money with less reimbursement, or any reimbursement potentially, and it would cost the taxpayer more versus no tax increase today,” Rodrigues said. “I don’t see how we don’t do this. All our schools will be right up to speed.”
Document Link: https://mdl.town/NYCU-Third
About Middletown
The Town of Middletown is a vibrant municipality located on Aquidneck Island, known for its scenic beauty, historic landmarks, diverse economy and strong sense of community. For more information about all we have to offer, visit MiddletownRI.gov online.
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