RISD’s Board of Trustees received an update on the status of the 2021 bond, which included upgrades for schools, updated technology, and replacement buses and other vehicles, at the Oct. 24 meeting.
“We hope you and our community [see] the due diligence that we do with our bond funds [and] the fact that it touches the entire district,” said Sandra Hayes, RISD assistant superintendent of district operations. “We may not be able to update every school, but there are things that happen across the board in every school with every bond that we’ve had.”
Two-minute impact
Superintendent Tabitha Branum said the district has hit a point of substantial completion for its 2021 bond program.
According to meeting documents, improvements funded through the bond include:
- 62 replacement school buses
- Playground improvements at 17 schools
- 2 middle school conversions, including construction of the new Lake Highlands Middle School
- Upgraded sound, lighting and projection systems at all four high schools
- Refreshed staff and student devices, along with other districtwide technology upgrades
- Career and technical education facility improvements and additions
- Artificial turf as baseball and softball fields at all four high schools
Based on RISD construction timelines, work on those three projects is expected to wrap up next summer.
Some context
Because of higher actual construction costs during the bond program, district officials had to trim the scope of certain improvements. Hayes said some of the district’s projects are coming in under budget, which could allow the district to use some of the $77 million that was set aside to fund additional projects within the bond’s scope.
Hayes added that the areas of deferred projects were determined based on the least potential impacts to the learning environment.
What’s next?
District officials said they expect to sell the remaining $25 million from the bond program next spring.
Hayes said it may also be time to start preparing for the district’s next bond as it approaches the end of its current five-year program.
“It is time to start talking about another potential bond for the district to continue our high-level educational programs that we offer,” Hayes said.
