The new Barrington Middle School building has been open for less than three years. And for two of those years, the state-of-the-art auditorium located inside the school has been off-limits. 

No theater productions.

No band concerts.

No special events.

The auditorium was closed in the late winter of 2020 after school officials discovered that the acoustic panels were falling off the walls. And the auditorium has remained closed while the legal teams for the school district and the contractor who built the school negotiate a resolution. 

Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore said the auditorium cannot be reopened until the room is 100 percent safe. 

“We’re reviewing the alternative plan,” Mr. Messore said during an interview last week.

He said the parties involved differ on what is to blame for the falling panels — the actual installation of the wall panels or the specifications for the work used during the installation. Mr. Messore said that until the debate is resolved, and workers fix the panels, it is too dangerous to allow students and others into the auditorium.

The large space, outfitted with a balcony, expansive stadium-style seating, and a catwalk for elaborate theater productions, was the centerpiece of the new middle school project. Mr. Messore said he was able to attend an event in the auditorium before it was closed off. “It was great,” he said.

The new Barrington Middle School building cost local taxpayers $68.4 million — the new school replaced an old middle school building that was loaded with problems. 

The new building offers student a multi-tiered media center (library), a robotics lab, a new gymnasium, and three floors of classroom spaces, collaborative work areas and other features. Reviews for the new school have been mostly good, although some parents have questioned the decision to place bleacher seating on only one side of the gymnasium and whether the auditorium will ever be available for use.

“It is such a waste and the people of Barrington may be interested to hear that with all the money spent, it just sits,” wrote one parent.

Mr. Messore said the situation involving the falling acoustic wall panels — he said there are upwards of two dozens panels that have fallen — is the last significant piece of the middle school construction project that needs to be resolved. He said officials are also waiting to determine if the new baseball field and in-ground irrigation are acceptable. 

Mr. Messore said he wants to have the auditorium situation resolved as quickly as possible. He hopes that the room will be hosting theater productions, concerts and other events in the near future.