EAST PROVIDENCE — The long, sometimes arduous, road to resolving the problem of a leaky, 30-inch drainage line on the re-envisioned East Providence High School grounds finally...finally appears to be near.

The School Committee was told as much by the administration at its June 13 meeting.

Superintendent Dr. Sandra Forand and Director of Facilities Chris Murphy provided the body with an update on the situation specifically as well as the few other remaining items to be completed on the project's "punch list."

As for the drainage line, which ruptured late in the summer of 2022 following several severe rainstorms, Murphy told the committee after a period of "extensive testing and analysis of existing soil conditions by numerous engineering and design experts" an agreed upon solution is very close.

Murphy said all parties involved are waiting on one final engineering approval to move forward with the plan to fix the pipe, which takes water from the front of the property to the rear at the athletics stadium.

The leak caused concern about the stability of concrete base for a light standard as well as the foundation of seating, both in the northwest corner of the stadium. The integrity of each was quickly determined to be unaffected, but the pole was taken down as a precautionary measure. The stadium remained open and in use for most EPHS sports except football, which was moved to its former home at Pierce Stadium because of crowd sizes.

Murphy continued, saying once engineering signs off on the remedy, "the light pole will be put back into position and repairs will begin in earnest."

He said the contractors "will move with the appropriate and necessary sense of urgency while correctly affecting these repairs."

Murphy, who said he was disappointed not to have the final approval in writing in-hand at the meeting, added it is the expectation of all involved that all work on the matter will be done "on or before the end of this month (June)...We are extraordinarily close to the end."

Punch list notes
Forand spoke to the committee about the "punch list," any other items that need to be fixed by the project's lead contractor Gilbane and its subcontractors before all sides consider the project complete.

The district was originally slated to take full and complete "ownership" of the new EPHS facilities and grounds around the same time as the drainage pipe leak. That and subsequent other concerns meant that hasn't quite happened. Technically, Gilbane still "owns" the punch list items under its purview while the district holds all others.

The superintendent said there were 20 items that still needed to be addressed, including eight she called "paper based" or manuals the district must create to provide staff with instructions/guidelines.

Another key exterior matter that is outstanding is repair to sidewalks, which Forand said will be addressed as soon as school ends. An issue with a faulty fire pump, she added, has a "software solution" and problems about the bio-retention ponds have already been addressed.

"We continue to work through the items but we are very hopeful that we will close out this project during the month of July once the students are off campus and we can finish the work that needs to be done," Forand concluded.

Accolades
Forand made a couple of notable acknowledgements at the meeting.

The superintendent presented School Committee chair Jenni Furtado with a certificate from the Rhode Island State Board of Education for completing the Rhode Island Association of School Committees Leadership Program.

In addition, Forand noted Riverside Middle School dean Brian Petsch was recently chosen to be a RIDE Golden Apple Award.

Those two accolades followed news  of Whiteknact Elementary School instructor Aimee Couto being chosen as the 2023-24 Rhode Island Teacher of the Year.

"It has been a really good year for East Providence," Forand said. "We had a Milken Award winner (Hennessey Elementary teacher Emily Rendine), the only one in the state. We also had another Golden Apple winner earlier in the year, Jess DiOrio.

"So I'm just really proud of the staff in the district. I don't think we could have done any better than we have. Congratulations to all of them. They deserve all the recognition."