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http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20060703_deaf03.180e310.html
An agreement to build a $31.3-million Rhode Island School for the Deaf behind Davies Career and Technical School, in Lincoln, has been reached by state and school officials, who have spent months wrangling over a location.
An earlier proposal to build the school behind the Community College of Rhode Island's Lincoln campus, which is adjacent to Davies, was rejected because CCRI officials were concerned it would hinder future expansion of the college. Last month, Davies agreed to a plan that allows the School for the Deaf to build on a parcel behind Davies, which sits off Louisquisset Pike.
However, Davies uses the land for two modular classrooms, and Davies officials say an addition will have to be built to make up for the lost space. Davies has 550 students in grades 9 through 12.
The bond approved in the last days of the General Assembly session should be enough to cover both projects, said Jerry Williams, executive director of the Department of Administration who helped iron out the deal. (The bond issue does not need the approval of the voters.)
"It's a much better location," Williams said, noting the original site would have required blasting through ledge -- a costly, time-consuming process. Instead, he said, that money can be diverted to Davies for its addition.
"This also provides the opportunity for the School for the Deaf to work more closely with Davies and perhaps develop some programs with that school," Williams said.
About 105 students, ages 3 through 21, attend the School for the Deaf, which now occupies a building in Providence that school officials say is inadequate and poorly suited to teaching of deaf students. The new 91,400-square-foot school will have acoustics and other design features appropriate for its population, school officials say.
Michael Ferdinandi, a CVS vice president and chairman of the board for Davies, said the technical school still has three concerns that board members want addressed: the addition; assurances that any lost athletic fields will be relocated elsewhere on the Lincoln property; and that driveways to Davies and the School for the Deaf would be able to handle bus traffic for both schools.
"We believe that all these things can be accounted for and that the outcome could be a new School for the Deaf on our property that will allow both schools to prosper in the long run," Ferdinandi said. "After reviewing the preliminary plans, I think the board feels confident that, in collaboration with the Department of Education, the architect and the Department of Administration, we can plan for these concerns."
Jack Warner, commissioner of higher education, said he was pleased with the location switch. CCRI hopes to build a 50,000-square-foot addition to expand its nursing and allied health programs, in the same area where the School for the Deaf was originally proposed.
The design plan for the new School for the Deaf includes a multipurpose athletic field encircled by a track at the front of the property, partly on Davies land and partly on CCRI land, Warner said. "That would be viewed as a shared facility for all three institutions," Warner said.
The state Department of Education had hoped to open the School for the Deaf by the fall of 2007. However, it is unclear when construction will begin, as architectural plans by Design Partnership of Cambridge, Mass., will have to be adjusted to the new location. Mark Gursky, chairman of the board for the School for the Deaf, says a fall 2008 opening is more realistic.
"The school administrators really don't want to move students in the middle of the school year, so a fall opening is really best," Gursky said.
An agreement to build a $31.3-million Rhode Island School for the Deaf behind Davies Career and Technical School, in Lincoln, has been reached by state and school officials, who have spent months wrangling over a location.
An earlier proposal to build the school behind the Community College of Rhode Island's Lincoln campus, which is adjacent to Davies, was rejected because CCRI officials were concerned it would hinder future expansion of the college. Last month, Davies agreed to a plan that allows the School for the Deaf to build on a parcel behind Davies, which sits off Louisquisset Pike.
However, Davies uses the land for two modular classrooms, and Davies officials say an addition will have to be built to make up for the lost space. Davies has 550 students in grades 9 through 12.
The bond approved in the last days of the General Assembly session should be enough to cover both projects, said Jerry Williams, executive director of the Department of Administration who helped iron out the deal. (The bond issue does not need the approval of the voters.)
"It's a much better location," Williams said, noting the original site would have required blasting through ledge -- a costly, time-consuming process. Instead, he said, that money can be diverted to Davies for its addition.
"This also provides the opportunity for the School for the Deaf to work more closely with Davies and perhaps develop some programs with that school," Williams said.
About 105 students, ages 3 through 21, attend the School for the Deaf, which now occupies a building in Providence that school officials say is inadequate and poorly suited to teaching of deaf students. The new 91,400-square-foot school will have acoustics and other design features appropriate for its population, school officials say.
Michael Ferdinandi, a CVS vice president and chairman of the board for Davies, said the technical school still has three concerns that board members want addressed: the addition; assurances that any lost athletic fields will be relocated elsewhere on the Lincoln property; and that driveways to Davies and the School for the Deaf would be able to handle bus traffic for both schools.
"We believe that all these things can be accounted for and that the outcome could be a new School for the Deaf on our property that will allow both schools to prosper in the long run," Ferdinandi said. "After reviewing the preliminary plans, I think the board feels confident that, in collaboration with the Department of Education, the architect and the Department of Administration, we can plan for these concerns."
Jack Warner, commissioner of higher education, said he was pleased with the location switch. CCRI hopes to build a 50,000-square-foot addition to expand its nursing and allied health programs, in the same area where the School for the Deaf was originally proposed.
The design plan for the new School for the Deaf includes a multipurpose athletic field encircled by a track at the front of the property, partly on Davies land and partly on CCRI land, Warner said. "That would be viewed as a shared facility for all three institutions," Warner said.
The state Department of Education had hoped to open the School for the Deaf by the fall of 2007. However, it is unclear when construction will begin, as architectural plans by Design Partnership of Cambridge, Mass., will have to be adjusted to the new location. Mark Gursky, chairman of the board for the School for the Deaf, says a fall 2008 opening is more realistic.
"The school administrators really don't want to move students in the middle of the school year, so a fall opening is really best," Gursky said.