The school department is deep into the process of redesigning and possibly rebuilding schools. That process has been happening for more than two years, has continued through two versions of the school committee, has passed through two architectural firms and has faced multiple rounds of public scrutiny and input.

So it may be late in the process to throw in our two cents … but here are two cents anyway.

Barrington High School should be the highest priority for investment in this community, and everything else should be a distant second. We have seen what a 21st-century high school looks like, and it is not the building at 220 Lincoln Ave.

If you’ve never been to East Providence High School, or a school like it, you must. Built on the campus of its predecessor, which was an old edifice from a bygone era (much like Barrington’s), the new school is simply incredible. The entire space is uplifting, with a vibe that feels more like a small community college than a public high school.

Its design matches its purpose, which is to be one of the preeminent CTE (Career and Technical Education) centers in Rhode Island. Each area of speciality — engineering, nursing, culinary, forensics, graphic design — has its own center, its own lab, with state-of-the-art equipment, versatile spaces and towering windows welcoming in sunlight.

Staff and students say the building itself is empowering.

In contrast, Barrington High School has not changed in 50 years. It is nearly the same building that we inhabited in the 1980s. The desks are the same. The rooms are the same. The campus is basically the same. And none of it is good enough for programming in the 21st century.

Does Barrington High School still delivery a high-quality education, with graduates going to top programs and good careers? Of course it does. But that is not guaranteed for all time.

Our neighbor to the north has already built a school that is attracting attention. East Providence High School is welcoming about 100 students from outside districts, including Barrington. It is also seeing an influx of families moving into the city specifically to send their children to the new high school.

Our neighbor to the south, Bristol-Warren Regional, has officially begun planning for a new Mt. Hope High School. They’ve agreed in concept to a $200 million investment in an entirely new high school campus.

What will Barrington look like a decade from now if its high school resembles a building from 1966, and its neighbors are a generation more advanced? The answer is woven into the very fabric of this community, and it stretches beyond education.

For thousands of families, schools are the magnet of attraction to Barrington. People move here for the schools, property values rise, and everyone rides the financial boost of home equity gains, paired with top-notch educational outcomes.

So the quality of this school system impacts the quality of life and quality of investment in this community, and the high school is the flag-bearer for that educational identity. It cannot become irrelevant — not for the students, not for district leaders trying to attract and retain top teaching talent, and not for the homeowners who have made significant property investments simply to live here.

Do the elementary schools need investment, too? To some extent, they do. However, elementary school spaces can be reimagined with creativity, flexible thinking and modest fixes. If they have great teachers, younger students can thrive and learn in almost any space.

High school students cannot. They cannot learn in a windowless engineering room with mediocre equipment. They cannot get a head start on biomedical training in a lab built in the 1960s. They cannot get real-world career training in a square room lined with singular desks, much like it was three generations ago.

To remain a destination school district, Barrington must build a new high school.